The Ties That Bind
by AnHeiressofaSOLDIER
Summary: For SoKai Day. The Cycle: an event staged by the Council where people have to reenact what they've done recently to prove they are innocent. Right before Kairi's name is called as the next contender, Sora begins imagining strange things about her: things he can't say if they're real or not. When weird and horrific things begin happening around the Island, they must set it right.
1. Chapter 1: Something Wicked Comes

**Author's Note: A story that's written in second person, because I've always wanted to challenge myself by doing so. But remember that "you" is Sora in this. Don't let that confuse you.**

**Also, the characters might seem a bit OOC at the beginning (Sora in particular is a bit Neku-y here), but that's for specific story reasons, and they'll get more and more like their canon selves as time progresses, I assure you.**

**Also… this story starts really confusing and weird at first glance, but it doesn't stay that way for long, and ends up really KH like later on. Yeah…**

**Chapter One: Something Wicked This Way Comes**

You'd decided early on in your life that you wanted to marry Kairi; you just didn't know how that would end up coming to pass, exactly.

It had all started when the two of you had met when you were seven; Kairi having cut her cheek on some of the harsh grains of sand littering the ground, and you being kind enough to come to her aide.

You could still remember easily enough how she had looked at you with wide, trustful and thankful violet eyes then: the most beautiful thing you'd ever seen in that time, as you had finally gotten over your belief that girls might have cooties.

And looking back on it now, though you'd thought it too silly and impossible to believe in back then, maybe... maybe it really had been love at first sight for you. And maybe there, in that one meeting with Kairi, you had also realized that you would always love her.

It certainly seemed true enough to you now, in seeing the lady being smitten by a boy other than yourself.

Riku... how you'd always hated that silver-haired, former friend of yours.

And if you were to be truthful, you'd admit that you might have been a _smidgen_ jealous of his features. After all, no one else in the world had his coloring, and how could Kairi-who had come to like the both of you as friends as she'd grown up—ever choose you, when you weren't rare like that in the slightest?

Still... you'd held onto hope that maybe, just maybe, Riku wouldn't return the redhead's kindness, as he had once been mean to you.

Now, though, as you saw Riku and Kairi flitting outside the window in front of you, you realized that you had hoped in vain.

"Sora, are you paying attention? Look... I need you to move some of these boxes from my room, all right? And anything you see in them, you can have. I won't even put them in storage lockers."

As you came back into focus at your cousin, Roxas', words, you realized just how much like a stalker you had probably seemed. No one else in their right mind would have ever opened the curtains, just to peek out at Kairi—who just happened to be in the same town as you currently were—you realized at once.

But... it was too odd to _not_ think on it and give it some attention, you mused. Seriously. Twilight Town was, by definition, an obscure, boring small town that no one in their right mind ever dreamed of going to. To that end, you really felt like you couldn't be blamed for spacing out like you had.

What were the chances that Kairi—with Riku, of all people—would be here on the same day that you were supposed to be, after all? Especially with some strangely large portrait in her hands.

"I'm sorry, Rox..." you answered him, just as you pulled your head out of your ass, long enough to realize how much of a jerk you were being—as well as a hindrance to Roxas' needs. Getting your stuff together before moving out was no walk in the park, after all. "And thanks for offering to give me some of your stuff. I really do appreciate it."

At that, Roxas raised an eyebrow questioningly. And with a laugh, you supposed you couldn't really blame him for thinking you a moron or simpleton, or anything like that.

So instead of waiting for him to see if you were being truthful or not, you decided to busy yourself with the robot in Roxas' room—that was just waiting to be picked up by your person.

Robots... they weren't really Roxas' cup of tea, were they, you suddenly recalled. It was for that reason that the first one he'd ever gotten had been from you, so you couldn't help but wonder why-

"Oh. You have that Kairi look on your face again, Sora. Go give her a call why don'cha, or whatever it is you two do. I swear you two have to be the most hopeless couple in the history of the world."

Well... Roxas' spot-on-ness was certainly annoying, wasn't it? Damnit! Had you really been that transparent? Were you seriously turning that much into a girl, you asked yourself, as you purposefully looked at anything but your cousin. Sure Roxas was probably just trying to help you in his own, weird way, but...

"I'm serious, Sora," Roxas said kindly, as he strode closer to you to put a reassuring hand on your shoulder—something you weren't exactly keen on, since he had dust on his arm from where he'd been cleaning earlier. "All joking aside... you should go see your girl. You're even lucky to have one, actually... So if you two need to finally define that that's what your relationship is, you know I'll be all for it."

_Except… all of _my_ friendships have seemed to defy the norm, so you're probably wrong_, you thought miserably. Your former, failed friendship with Riku has especially made you leery about having guy friends, as you just ended up thinking they'd all betray you in the end...

Maybe- maybe that was why Kairi had become such a staple in your life, huh?

Anyway, pretending that Roxas' words had at least given you some confidence, you quickly exited his minuscule apartment.

And once you were out in the open sun, looking for Kairi—who still could have been in the park, just a few paces away from you—you thought that maybe you never should have left Roxas' place at all.

Kairi _was_ before you, you saw with a start, and for whatever the reason… she was sitting on the swing and leaning forward the slightest bit.

And only then, when you were finally seeing her neck in an angle you never had before-as she'd never been comfortable enough around you to flaunt her body like that—you saw the scar dissecting her skin there, so that it split into shades of peach and red evenly, and then you screamed.

Kairi... had she been attacked by someone during the time you were in Roxas' apartment?! Why hadn't you gotten to her sooner, if that was the case? Why?! Your mind might have been a little foggy at times, but Roxas should have seen it all, right?! Unless—unless there was nothing _to_ see.

And with that positively thrilling thought drifting through your mind, you promptly passed out.

...

It must have been just a little bit later that you woke up in the hospital, with various instruments plugged into your arms and an annoying beeping noise in your ears.

And the first thing your eyes happened to make contact with upon their opening was not Roxas, but rather his girlfriend. And the way that she was looking at you cautiously seemed to speak of it all...

Right. So you must have hallucinated what you'd thought you'd seen and passed out? Idly, you wondered if you'd ever even seen Kairi at all, or if that had all been part of your imaginings as well.

If nothing else, though, the trip to Twilight Town must have been real, you decided. Otherwise, Xion would have had no reason to be with you, so… that was good, right? That gave you some grounding and some perspective, at least.

"Roxas..." you choked out, instantly hating how garbled your voice sounded even to your own years. Maybe... maybe it meant that you'd been unconscious longer than you'd anticipated?

Deciding to think on all of that later, you ended up continuing with the matter at hand somewhat tactlessly: "He must understand me more than I thought he did, if he sent you to help me, Xion. He must realize that I hate guys, and in that... I often hate myself, too."

That sort of self-loathing and pained truthfulness was usually foreign to you, but for the moment you didn't care. Not when you were looking at a girl—though whom you'd always thought as a sister, if that—who looked so much like a darker featured Kairi, that you wanted to scream. You couldn't—you couldn't get the image of Kairi injured out of your mind; it was almost like how you'd met her even, and-

"Roxas knows so much more than you give him credit for, Sora," Xion snapped, with as much irritation in her own voice as you had in yours. And in that moment… you understood that she must have been tired of pretenses, too.

Sighing resignedly, you turned on your side to be able to see her better, as she sat in the folding chair beside you. You even wanted to apologize to her for what you had said about Roxas, but you found you couldn't even begin to. In fact, the blazing look in Xion's eyes even seemed to dare you to try.

Continuing on hurriedly, as if she expected you to partake in a race to see who could talk the soonest over the other, Xion put on a positively livid, and betrayed air, as she said: "You hurt Roxas' feelings, you know. You always do, but I suppose you don't care. I _know_ you're not insane, Sora, so don't even pretend to be. You just use your _slight_ mental illnesses to make people feel sorry for you and to be able to be excused for things, but... I- I may have cared about you before, Sora, but I can't anymore. I'm sorry. But you really need to stop being so helpless!"

You should have... expected that Xion would react to you the way that she was now, you thought. She loved Roxas and always had, and for that reason… her first allegiance was always to him, wasn't it? And since you'd been all but insulting him, how had you expected her to act?

Still... you'd hoped that some of your former friendship would have at least carried through, but apparently not. As tears sting your eyes, you were quick to wipe them away: you didn't want her to have the benefit of seeing them, after all, but were pretty sure that she did.

And in any case... she was wrong. You _were_ insane. So insane, in fact, that you often wondered how you functioned as well as you did in society. Everything- everything hurt. You, your mind, your heart and soul… everything hurt, and you just wanted it all to go away. To go away...

"Sora..." Xion muttered, upon realizing she must have hit a nerve with you. Her hand reached outwards, as if she was trying to comfort you, maybe, but you instantly cringed away from it and further into your mattress.

You didn't want someone's—someone who just proven that you couldn't trust any girl but Kairi—pity. And as it was… she looked far too much like Kairi as she neared closer to you.

And something flashed in Xion's eyes, then. A look that seemed to hint that she was just as hurt by your rebuttal as you had been hers a minute ago.

And for a moment, you regretted ignoring her like you were, and you wanted to set it right—you had been a people person a _long_ time ago, you knew—but she ended up making the decision for you before you could move to do anything.

Standing up quickly and then straightening her expression, Xion quietly left the room—letting the doorknob catch with a loud clang.

You assumed that she'd truly vacated the premises to sign your release papers, so that you could both get away from each other as soon as possible, but you couldn't be sure of anything anymore. You just couldn't.

...

The next night, when you were back at Destiny Island and preparing to go back to school the following day, you felt a lot better and almost sane. You'd been taking more medicine regularly, so when you opened your science book to study that night—and saw how it was theoretically possible for people to have _two_ pathways inside their mind-you couldn't see how it connected to your Schizophrenia at all. You just couldn't.

So instead, you yawned, ate a few bits of cabbage, and fell on your back asleep—the way that your T-shirt had risen up, to show off some of the brown fuzz on your stomach, almost making you feel like a hamster.

And then you were lost to the land of dreams: wondering why Roxas needed storage lockers, when he could have just taken everything with him to his new house.

When you woke up a little while later (nearly missing school that was about to start in fifteen minutes), you got ready in a rush, and as luck would have it—when you were running through the school doors, and sliding across the floor in the process—you ran straight into Kairi.

Kairi... she really was a god sent, you thought to yourself merrily. And after having been met with your odd tendencies for many years now, she had even taken to bringing a cane to school along with her, so that way if you hurt yourself on your mad dash to school every day (like you had before)… you'd have something to hobble around with later.

Yes, a lovely tradition that had been going on in your life for many years now. And while most people probably would have seen it as awkward and uncomfortable memories, you saw them only as good ones. Good… because you'd spent them with Kairi, before she'd begun to be distant.

But now, though, as the girl helped you get to your feet (something that made you feel a bit bitter, since you were the guy; shouldn't you have been helping her?), you found that maybe... just maybe one change could happen between you two and still be all right. Just maybe

"Sora..." Kairi chastised you with a reproachful expression, as she pulled you away from the rest of the students who were weaving their way through the hallways.

Only when you'd gone through the little doorway adjacent to the blue, freshman lockers—that would take you to your first class—did she continue on with her irritated train of thoughts. "I've only been telling you to get an alarm clock for the past seven years, you idiot! I mean, don't get me wrong;" Kairi continued on—completely not noticing how you'd started to look as her awestruck, as you realized just all she'd done for you since you'd met.

"I'm glad that you get here in just enough time to get to class, Sora, but still... I'm sure you, as well as I, could do without the heart attack every day. I've covered for you lot of times, y'know? And-"

Never in all your life had you wanted to kiss Kairi as much as you did in this moment. And for once, she'd even trailed off in her ranting—did she see the look on your face, maybe, and know that you wanted to kiss her? And if so… should you go through with it? Or-

But... in deciding not to ruing your friendship, and remembering that you weren't as close as you used to be, what with Riku and everything, you quickly patted her on her lips.

And before you could savor what the feel of the rest of her skin might have felt like against your skin, you quickly told her, "Don't fret too much, Kai. I mean… how about I buy you a doughnut today to make up for it all, okay? Today _is_ doughnut Friday, after all."

And just like that, Kairi sobered up a little bit (though you thought she might have looked a little guilty at the thought of being bought by food), and you both started laughing.

Around Kairi... you felt better. Whole, even, like there wasn't something wrong with your brain that gave you split personalities. But since you'd been hurt enough in the past, you knew how dangerous that thought could be. And thus... you instantly nipped it in the bud the moment it appeared.

Instead, the two of you began racing through the relatively short and (thankfully) air-conditioned hall, until you finally ended up at the room at the end of the place. Opening the door hesitantly—as you remembered that you'd left your game guide in there before you'd had your excused absence, and now you were worried that the teacher hadn't saved it for you—you let Kairi go in first, to scope out the area, but it was instantly to wish that you had shielded her from it.

Well, fuck. It looked as though your history teacher had decided to have some sort of bowling type game, to help everyone to study for the big upcoming test. And normally... you would have been all for that—though the pink speckled bowling pins, amidst the black room left something to be desired—but you instantly knew what Kairi must have been thinking of.

In the seventh grade, your teacher had made all of his students create chore ideas to do for their mothers for mother's day, and had made the parents vouch that the kids had actually gone through with it all.

The problem was... that Kairi had never done chores before—and her mother wouldn't let her do them, since she thought only the servants should do that—and thus when Mr. Swan had had a bowling day to reward the kids for what they'd done... Not only had Kairi gotten a failing grade, but she'd been excluded from the festivities, as well, which wasn't fair in the slightest.

It had been the last day of school, too. And though you knew that Kairi tried to hide it, she'd never been more humiliated or sad in her life. And likewise, you had never hated another person more than you did that teacher (which was another point against men, in your book).

But since that day had been your graduation from the eighth grade, you'd never thought that you'd have to undergo anything like it again. But here you were: in a room full of bowling pins, which were serving to make Kairi relive terrible memories. You scowled.

But Kairi, proving she was ever the goddess that you had first thought her of, swept all of it under the rug, and didn't look disturbed in the slightest, when she went to ask Miss Vivin if she'd seen the book you'd left behind the other day.

And when she said that she had, and handed it back to you—something that made you feel a quick bout of fanboy glee, despite your best efforts—Kairi's face fell for just a second, as yours lit up.

And in just that moment… you found yourself wishing that the insanity would swarm up in your mind, so that you couldn't he happy when Kairi was so sad. _Kairi_...

You had... You had meant to say something to her, to try and make her feel better the best way that you could, but in that moment the bell had rung, and Kairi was quick to run to her assigned seat on the other side of the room. Saved by the bell, as it were.

And maybe... maybe that was a good thing. Maybe bringing it up would just make everything worse, you thought. But... Kairi had always been a vocal and affectionate kind of person, so you couldn't imagine that she'd be any different when it came to needing comfort. And for that reason, you found yourself being annoyed at Olette, for not having realized that they were supposed to pick new seats to sit at, when they'd played musical chairs last quarter.

Since she had been the only one not to have a new seat after that event, Miss Vivin had decided to let it go. And since she wasn't a math teacher, you assumed that she thought there was no possible way for everyone to possibly have a new seat from last time. You knew better, though, and you cursed Olette and your teacher both, because it Olette had gotten up that day, you could have been over there by Kairi now, and-

Honestly, could your life get any worse? It certainly didn't feel like it…

Well, if nothing else, at least Leon was being a good sport, and steering the conversation to what everyone's plans for that weekend were, you acknowledged... which was weird in and of itself, since Leon was very quiet and antisocial, but hey: if it got Kairi and your mind off of things, who were you to complain?

"Does this have something to do with the Basketball tournament going on right now, Miss Vivin?" Leon asked good-naturedly, as he inclined his head to the side—looking to you like he was about to nearly fall out of his seat. But Leon always been like that: ever since the teacher had said that she hated people crossing their right legs over their left ones: something Leon had done until she'd said that, you mused.

"The brackets you handed out for us to study with remind me of Mad March, so that's why I ask." The white-haired teacher pursed her lips at that. And, thankfully, that seemed to get Kairi's attention some, and to get her to perk up.

This teacher... got away with more than some of the other ones did—something that Kairi's grandmother had also been good at—so whatever she must have been seriously thinking about saying must have been good, you decided.

"That is a good observation, Leon," Miss Vivin allowed, before she turned her attention to Kairi for whatever reason, and gave her a withering stare. Your skin prickled at that, and despite how much you liked Miss Vivin—and had thought her maybe s good thing for Kairi before that—you suddenly started worrying that maybe it would be a repeat of some years ago, and that Miss Vivin might exclude Kairi from the study game or something.

Instead, though, she began walking around the room—pressing her horned glasses closer to her face, as she did so—and told Leon that, "If I were to want to emulate any game, it would be hockey, but that's a story for another time. Right now, though... Right now we've been studying about various folklores, if you remember correctly, and I thought for this review game, you all could try and make your own—each of you filling in a bracket with your narrative, and pairing your idea off against others'. It'll be a good practice to all of you, since this kind of thing will be on the test.

"Now, to start off, allow me to give you a prompt: If 'GOLF' formerly meant 'gentleman only; ladies prohibited', what do you think 'BOWL' could stand for? I want you all to write out your ideas about that."

Well, that was certainly interesting, you thought—looking at Kairi to see if she was on the same wavelength as you were. Unfortunately, she wasn't. Maybe she was still focused on her bad memories about bowling?

Anyway... you could have sworn that your teacher would have wanted you to come up with a story about hockey, if anything. A hockey novel had even been of the ones she'd assigned you, hadn't it? And since when—since when had she ever liked golf? And since when had it ever meant what she said it did, you thought mystified?

It was weird, even, that she could get away with saying that acronym in class. Granted, Miss Vivin always risked things—and had had you read racist things like Tom Sawyer, even—but still.

Shooting your hand up into the air, you were quick to try and explain your point, and if you were lucky—to try and turn the situation into something that wouldn't be harmful to Kairi.

It was a weird move on your part, though, seeing as how you hadn't risked talking in class since you'd been diagnosed. You were pretty sure everyone thought you were a freak, and as it was... you hated to fan those flames. But for Kairi... for her you'd do anything.

"'Scuse me? Miss V? I don't—I don't think I understand, exactly. You want us to each make up our own definition—through storytelling, maybe?—and there isn't one answer? Or is there, and you want us to find it? Also... is this game going to be about us telling stories in front of everyone in class. That's— well, that's kind of embarrassing, to be honest."

And you failed to see how it connected to History at all. Wasn't this something better suited for English class? But then again... your classes had sort of been connected since you'd begun studying, Egypt, Mesopotamia, and now Folklore. So maybe it made perfect sense to the curriculum, and you just couldn't see it?

That must have been it, you thought. You were- you were insane, and had voices in your head, after all. Maybe she'd explained all of this on another day, even, and you'd just been distracted and missed it?

In the end, she didn't give you much of an answer: just said to figure it all out for yourself, in that annoying way that teachers often left you up a creek without a paddle if you just happened to accidentally upset them.

Scowling into your desk irritably, you promised yourself that if/when the class had to split up into teams to bowl as a reward, you would make sure that Kairi was on your team.

And though she, of course, still needed much comforting for what she'd gone through in the past, you found yourself selfishly wishing she'd say something nice to you, since you'd just gotten snapped at by Miss V for the first time ever.

Yep... as much as being insane sucked more than anything you could ever imagine, there were some times when it was almost nice to be oblivious to the harsher reality of things.

And right now... right now you desperately wanted to act like you'd been able to understand your teacher's dismissal at all. Kairi also seemed to feel the same way, as she looked at Riku like he was her personal life preserver, just as you were her.

And now… now you found yourself wondering if you really had seen her in Twilight Town yesterday. The way that she and Riku were acting around each other now might have hinted at their meeting. Maybe. Either that, or you were even loonier than you'd thought.

If only… if only Xion could have been right about you faking your illness, but unfortunately for you, you weren't that lucky.

...

Whether it was through some sort of divine intervention you didn't believe in, or something else entirely, Kairi didn't end up seeking Riku out at the end of class like you'd thought she would.

Instead, she happily agreed to work with you on the project, and when she did just that... Well, you found yourself wanting to kiss her again, like you had back in the hall earlier that day, but you reigned yourself in. You knew that what she really must have valued was your distracting her. But even so… it made you beyond ecstatic.

So when the two of you started walking home from school together—brown and orange summer leaves taking up the white, sidewalk path before you—you were in much a better mood than you had been in years: even thoughts about your mind not working were leaving you alone, and maybe… maybe that's why you missed, when the two of you ended up at the strange ice cream shop that had opened up at the end of the other street.

There was... there was something about this parlor that you didn't like. Sure, it's rounded design—so that it shot upward, to look like a twirling dip on a cone—was nice and inviting. And the yellow of it spoke of the summer that you yet wanted to lose, but... it was just such an odd place for a shop to be located: at the end of a dead-end alley that had been vacated for as many years as you could remember.

Kairi, if the way she nervously shifted her weight was anything to go by, must have felt the same. You noticed how she purposefully walked away from the huge pair of scissors in the ground, that seemed to mark the entrance to the place, and you couldn't blame her in the slightest. You still weren't entirely sure that the odd decoration in the ground wouldn't skewer you, if you weren't careful.

And if _you_ thought that... you couldn't even imagine what Kairi might have thought of it, with her delicate features and pacifist attitude.

Seeming to read your mind, and give you your answer all in one go, the redhead hooked her fingers on your shirt cuffs, and then quickly began hauling you away. "Let's... let's go, Sora. We must have been distracted, and took a wrong turn somewhere. Let's hurry up and get home now, I don't want my parents to worry about me."

Though you hated to admit it, you would have been more than okay with Kairi's parents worrying a little bit, if it meant she kept her hand on your wrist, and continued to look at you with her beautiful, amethyst gaze.

But... as it stood, you did owe a lot to Kairi's parents, for letting her be the only constant presence in your life. So giving her a curt nod, so your voice wouldn't give away how much her love—though platonic, you guessed—meant to you, you began heading back with her in the direction you'd come.

It was a good thing you were doing this, too, you thought when you noticed that Kairi had stopped shivering, and was once again walking with a little bit of pep in her step. Though you didn't think that any criminals would ever hit your small, peaceful—and all around boring, if you were being honest—town, you knew that girls had much more reason to fear things than guys did. So if you could make Kairi feel just a little bit more secure in walking home from school, you would do it.

She must have liked your efforts, too, you realized. For acting much like she had when you were kids, she quickly clasped your hand in her own, and then crashed into your shoulder with her own, before hurrying away with her sweet giggle permeating the air. You relished in the sound.

Running to catch up to her, you put your hands in your pockets—feeling a chill coming on—and then meant to have a light, conversation with your best friend, but...

Somehow, though, you failed miserably in that—perhaps thoughts about anyone hurting Kairi if you weren't there to help her had set you on edge—and you ended up blurting out what you'd been wondering all day long, "Were you and Riku in Twilight Town at all yesterday? I thought—I thought I might have seen you. And it's totally fine if you two were, by the way! I just- I just remember seeing you holding a large painting, and I know how you hate art now, so..."

Oh, god. Could you have sounded anymore like a jealous ex? You asked yourself, as you ducked under the nearest tree, so that the shade could maybe block some of your blush.

And now... now that the two of you were back on track again—getting near the sanded parts of the Island, that were more what you were accustomed to seeing—you knew that Kairi would be nearing her home any minute. And you... you really didn't want to leave the conversation like this.

So maybe... maybe you could go inside and make small talk with her parents, and then think of something to set things right with her? If it gave you just a few more seconds with Kairi, you didn't see how it could be bad, so-

Kairi laughed again, as she passed the last tree on the road, and paused to pick up an acorn that had fallen from it.

Turning to you with swimming, amused eyes, the girl held both of her hands up, palm forward, so you knew she wasn't making fun of you. And then, she set to putting your mind at ease: the sun reaching out towards her, to make her even more beautiful, as she began talking as poetically as you'd always known she was capable of.

"Sora... I think you need to get your eyes checked, maybe. Riku and I were, in fact, in Twilight Town yesterday. It's crazy that we didn't see you, though, if you did us, but maybe we're just blind... But I- I don't know what you mean about me carrying a picture. You're right in that I'm against people doing art now, since the artists aren't paid enough for their work. I wouldn't- I wouldn't have been holding a portrait even by my favorite painter, okay?

"Not when we're about to be made to reenact stages of our lives again. That would get way too expensive to pay for, thank you very much."

As Kairi's words washed over you, you couldn't help but look at her stupidly. She was at her house now, which meant that she was safe, and need only knock on the door to be let into safety… but there was so much you wanted to say to her, and now you had no time

For one thing… was Kairi really revealing that she had no idea where Roxas lived? If so, you probably had imagined her in Twilight Town, huh? What were the chances she would have just happened upon Roxas' house, after all?

And she'd also brought up the Cycle, hadn't she? And ugh. You'd probably have to be tested, despite your mental disorder, too, wouldn't you? You could never understand why certain places felt the need to test their people about everything they'd done in the previous years.

Every five years or so, the Council would make every citizen reenact something that they'd done recently—you were always put on the spot, too, so you couldn't prepare for it—so they could better predict who was a criminal by how they reacted to the test.

And if that were true, and Kairi really had been asked to come in for the Cycle all ready, that meant you couldn't have seen her with a picture yesterday. If she were to buy one, the Council members would make her fork over an equal amount of money to them during the ceremony. And here you'd thought the government couldn't get any more corrupt…

You must have looked mad then, for stopping in where she'd been about to climb up a rose lattice to her room—the sharp red of Kairi's hair clashing deeply with the pink flowers, and blue sky she'd been drawing closer and closer to—she returned to where you stood, to put a reassuring hand on your shoulder and give you one of her most award winning smiles. How you loved Kairi's smiles...

"It isn't- It isn't all bad, Sora," she said, as if she wouldn't have had to pay double for a non-existent picture, if your crazed mind had been right. "I mean... sure our home is a bit… tyrannical, but the Cycle," she said, with a weird lilt in her voice that you didn't fully understand. "The Cycle isn't the worst thing I've ever heard being done. It's actually sort of fun, I think. You almost get to be an actor for a day. And since that's a type of media I still support, I'm all for it."

Kairi laughed at her own words—laughed like you once had, when you'd been the comedic relief in your friendship, but you couldn't be anymore. Not anymore.

And acting... though if Kairi liked it, it gave it some immediate points in your book... you couldn't help but hate it with a passion.

Why should perfectly normal people get to pretend to be insane, when you couldn't even _dream_ of pulling off a sane act, without having your hopes and dreams instantly demolished. Even Xion, who had thought you were faking it some, had still conceded you weren't right in the head, hadn't she?

Sometimes... sometimes you found yourself thinking—wishing—that you really were doing all of this for attention, and that you could snap out of it whenever you wanted to, but... As everyone was bound by the Cycle, so were you bound to have your mind drift between concepts—never truly able to grasp onto, or hold onto, anything.

"Sora?" Kairi regarded you with an almost tragic look on her face, as she cocked her head to the side and pressed her lips into a firm line.

"You should... you should go see your servants now, Kai. They need to give you some medicine, since you nearly had a heart attack, imagining kidnappers and such things on your way home, right?"

Kairi let you go at once, then, as your words cut her to the quick. But instead of running away from you and the danger you provided, as she should of, she instead twined closer to your hurtfulness for just an instant—like one would might risk thorns in order to get closer to a rose—and then she whispered in your ear.

As a single tear slid down her face, Kairi said something that would make you regret your existence and state of mind more than anything else ever could. "I would—I would love you so much, Sora, if you would just realize that what you're like isn't a game to me."

Then, faster and more efficiently than you had ever seen her move, Kairi was in her shack at the south of her backyard, and gone from your site. She'd neither climbed up her window like she'd wanted to, nor had she gone through her front door to her servants like you'd said, and you...

You wanted to know why she'd chosen to go in there of all places more than anything. Not that Kairi would ever explain it, though... Nor should she, after you'd said what you had.

Once again, you were hating yourself. And once again, a single tear cascaded down from your eye.

**Author's Note: So, to anyone who made it this far, I have great news for you. This. Story. Is. Completely. Done. As I'm posting this, I've all ready finished this entire story, so expect updates and for this thing to actually have an ending.**

**Woot! That's the first time I can promise that about one of my stories, and I'm totes excited for it! I worked my butt off to make it possible (writing double what you're supposed to for NaNo in HALF the time you're allotted for NaNo, but I knew it would be worth it for SoKai Day).**

**Happy SoKai Day, everyone!**

**Hope you enjoyed! **

**And be sure to review with what you think so far, as well as what you're confused about. Hopefully things will clear up for y'all in the future.**

**Love you all!**

**-Shanna**

**(P.S. Sorry for any mistakes. Trying to edit this whole thing on SoKai Day was a nightmare. LOL.)**


	2. Chapter 2: Naminé

**Chapter Two: Naminé**

Later that weekend—when you weren't thinking about how you'd stupidly upset Kairi, and how she hadn't come back to school since you'd opened your big mouth—you found yourself putting up various posters of your favorite bands in your room.

It was a little pointless, you thought, and nothing short of busy work, but... it gave you the illusion that you were doing something productive.

It was nice, too, to know that even though you hadn't put the flyers up since you'd bought them, that you were able to partake in something in new—something the Cycle wouldn't end up hounding you for—and that you wouldn't have to pay money again for.

And at that, you couldn't help but think of the weird vision you'd had of Kairi in Twilight Town. Just what could it have meant?

Had Riku… had _he_ at least been there like that? It made you nauseous to think that if the vision had at least some credence, that Riku might be a big part of Kairi's future…

But as it stood... you weren't really one to talk, since you weren't in her good graces anymore yourself.

And... you would think about that later. Right now, you had a lot of homework and other things to deal with. For one thing, you'd taken it upon yourself to do some of Kairi's homework for her, since she'd been absent so often lately. In your mind, it was the least you could do after insulting her like you had.

"Hey, Sora?" the sudden voice of your father, Cloud, interrupted your thought processes, as he knocked lightly on your wall, and poked his head into the room. You grimaced.

While it was good that you had parents that still were there, you guessed, and were more than willing and capable to pay for all of your medical needs, you'd be lying if you said they understood anything at all. In fact, you were more than certain that they talked with an annoyed air about you to their friends, and in that light... you hated them.

Why couldn't—why couldn't your dad at least be as cool as his nephew, Roxas (who just happened to be his spitting image)? To be honest, you'd asked yourself that many a time in the past. Or… at least you had until you'd grown up and deemed the whole situation pointless. Now you just tried to stay as far away from the 'rents as possible.

And as they didn't seem to object, or even acknowledge it at all, you assumed they must have thought it for the best. So if Cloud was cornering you about something now... Well, it couldn't be a good thing in the slightest, could it?

Unbeknownst of the thoughts that had entered your head—or the pure look of loathing you were giving him—Cloud continued on speaking unperturbed. "You heard that the Council's having the Cycle again right now, didn't you? You need to find a time to go up there, Sora. Do you want to go up there with your mom and me now? Or-"

Groaning irritably—and nearly shredding your favorite band poster into tatters, as you held onto it with a shaky grasp—you guessed that you should have known what this was going to be about. Your parents were nothing short of Council lapdogs, after all, so what else had you expected?

Still... it was nice that they were giving you a choice about it all, you supposed. Granted, they were probably only doing it for their own mental health—so that they wouldn't have to cart around a raving, insane child to the place, and could just eventually make you go yourself—but you'd take what you could get.

Shaking your head slightly, as you repressed the desire to throw your favorite poster at your dad's face in retribution, for him causing you to destroy it, you said, "Nah. I think... I think I'm going to wait until I hear from Kairi, and maybe go with her, if that's all right. I haven't— I haven't heard from her lately. So if she's mad at me, if I go to her about this, maybe it'll give us some common ground again, and something to talk about."

Never in all your life had you regretted saying anything more. Not even the mean, stereotyping things that you had to Kairi last. For one thing, you knew you didn't owe Cloud an explanation about anything at all.

But mostly... you knew that he hated your relationship with her. Probably because he thought you'd let the mayor know, through his daughter, what sort of freak show you were, and that your family was by extension. Or maybe he thought she was too good for you?

Or... maybe, you thought now, as you got to your feet, and did begin hurling the poster in the direction of Cloud... Maybe he was afraid you'd impregnate her, and make her bear an insane child in her womb. That was just the thing your dad would think, wasn't it?

Slamming the door in his face, before he could again tell you to find other friends—guy friends—you shakily picked up your phone in your hand, and found yourself calling Riku of all people.

The moment you heard your ex-friend's annoying ringbone on the other end, you instantly regretted it. Kairi was probably perfectly fine, right? You were just overreacting. And... what was the chance that Riku would know what was up with her, anyway? They may have reconnected some of late—much to your annoyance—but that didn't mean they were joined at the hip or anything like that.

Actually, Kairi spent much more time with you than she did Riku, so you really were being stupid with this. But still... if there was a chance that Kairi really could be in danger, you knew there wasn't anything you wouldn't do to see her to safety: and that included talking to the jerkass of all jerkasses.

So stealing your resolve, you listened to his annoying, Barbie-esque music, and pressed on for Kairi's sake and Kairi's alone. Finally, Riku answered.

"Yeah... what is it?" he asked, in a very irritated tone.

And as that just made you all the more angry, you nearly said many things that would have made Riku disconnect the call immediately, but instead you choked out, "Riku... it's Sora. And, no: I don't want to talk about _it_, or you, or anything like that. I'm only calling for Kairi's sake, okay? She hasn't been at my school the past few days, and her parents are acting weird when I try to call her, and since the two of you are friends again... I thought I'd see if maybe you know what's up."

Well, the sound of Riku almost dropping the phone at all of that was oddly positive, you thought. Even though you hated him immensely—and planned to for many more years to come, since he more than deserved it—maybe his fumble meant that he still cared and would help you?

Or another scenario: what if something terrible had happened to Kairi: something he knew, and he didn't know how to tell you? If that were the case... you knew you'd never forgive yourself, for having let her leave the way she had your last night with her. _Kairi_...

"Sora," Riku said much more dignified now, as he seemed to press the phone closer to his ear—if that muffled sound you were hearing was anything to go by, anyway—and more likely than not, pressed his glasses closer to his eyes, as he thought how best to disclose the answer. "If it had been another time and day, I'd accuse you of being a jealous, stalker-like boyfriend of Kairi's and that you need to let up."

_The real stalker person around here is you_, _Riku_, you thought, positively seething. _For you're the one who sought to write a book about my life—and maybe Kairi's, too—and then sell it to the highest bidder_! _How she ever forgave you is beyond me._

But before you could even dream of getting the accusatory words out, Riku was cutting you off. "But... it just so happens that I'm also worried about her. Look... Do you think you could meet me outside of your house, so that we can talk about this? It'll be easier to speak face to face, I think."

Honestly, seeing Riku face-to-face was the last thing you wanted to do. But if Riku was worried about Kairi... Well, that didn't really bode well at all, did it?

Slamming your fists against your eyes in panic and aggravation—and oh, just fantastic; you could hear the voices in the back of your head start to stir again; and you'd taken more than enough medication today, too!—you said in a deadpanned tone, "Fine. See you in ten. But if you don't make it here by that time, I'm going to go to Kairi's house and get some answers myself."

...

Proving to be much more prompt now than he'd been in the years the three of you had used to hang out together, Riku ended up appearing at your home in record time—something your parents were oh so thrilled about, though Tifa seemed to sober up some, when you explained you were worried about Kairi—and you tried not to let his timeliness worry you about Kairi anymore. You failed.

It didn't help that the entire block was covered with people who were all ready decorating for Halloween, which in turn caused an eerie atmosphere to appear over everything. The sea, too, seemed to be churning with much more force than usual.

Pulling your jumper tighter about you, you found yourself worrying that maybe a Tsunami was about to transpire.

"Riku," you told the older boy much more politely than you'd ever thought you were capable of, as you darted down the stairs and stopped within a few meters of your former friend. "What is this about Kairi that you couldn't say on the phone? What-"

Just as you said these things, you noticed in your peripheral vision that the moon had finally decided to come free of the clouds—and it was a full moon, at that—and began to bathe the entire area in an unearthly glow. You shivered.

"I think, Sora..." Riku said, moving a silver lock of hair out of his face (his hair had gotten longer since the last time you'd seen him, you notices), so that you could see his saddened, jade gaze better. "I think you know what I mean. What's just begun, after all? The Cycle, right? And that's always a _thrill_ to take part in, or so I've heard, so in that... I can't imagine that Kairi's seeming disappearance and it aren't unconnected.

"She was going to the Cycle yesterday, she told me, actually. And if you haven't heard from her since then... Well, I'm sorry, Sora, but I'm terrified for the fact. She would have called you, I think, to tell you what to expect, as you're a special case... She would have never—just vanished into thin air like this. I might not know her as well as I used to-as much as you now do—but I still know _that_.

"Now, I have to ask you one thing: do you think your parents could be involved in this in any way?"

Honestly, you would have been lying if you said you pondered the same thing. You'd even expected that that was why Riku hadn't wanted to talk to you over the phone. As your dad was a campaign advisor, anything said about the government would get directly sent to the candidates: so there was no doubt in your mind that he was listening into you calls, even.

And yet—you couldn't imagine them being involved in a conspiracy, if that was what Riku was getting at. If for no other reason than the fact that your parents hated to be involved with anyone connected to your illness, so they definitely would have stayed away from your best friend who'd been around for everything, you thought.

Turning to Riku, you regretfully told him what you had only just begun to piece together. You could only hope that after what he'd done, that you could still trust him in some regard. "No... my parents wouldn't have—" you cut your words off; you weren't able to put into words, lest you make it true, how Kairi might had been abducted.

Instead, you said, as thoughtlessly and emotionlessly as you could that, "They're not involved. I do think you're right about this having to do with the Cycle, though. I mean... there's more to it than we know. I'm almost sure of it.

"It's always in October, when the weather's the weirdest, for one thing. Or rather, I feel like the weather is somehow made like this for the event. And, yes, Riku: I know that sounds crazy. And yes, I _am_ crazy... So in that, I believe I can see things that other people can't. And just for once... I think I stumbled onto something that's possible and real here, so give me the benefit of the doubt just this once, okay?

"Also... I think Kairi might have stolen a photograph—from a world leader, maybe, and that's why she was trying to cover it up—I think... I think that's why she-"

"You're saying that the Cycle affects the weather?" Riku said slowly, closing and unclosing his hand in a nervous gesture, just as the wind began blowing so as to gather his hair in a halo above his head. "That's crazy, Sora. Even for you. How do I—how do I know that anything your telling me has a shred of truth to it? And I fail to see how Kairi has anything to do with this idea of yours. Want to elaborate?"

You did, actually. You wanted to tell Riku that Kairi's name meant "sea", and that the water was acting up with a sort of vicious air in that very moment. You held this information back, though.

Call yourself crazy... but you couldn't get over the idea that there were some things you needed to keep about all of this to yourself. And if Kairi's life was on the line, that was even more reason to make sure you could trust who you gave information to.

And as it stood... you couldn't trust Riku as far as you could throw him. Not at all.

Closing your eyes in slight anguish, you looked back to Riku reluctantly. You could tell by the face he was making that he all ready knew you had no answer to satisfy his question.

But you must have done something to make him feel some sort of sympathy towards you. For reaching out to put a hand atop your shoulder, he told you with a quick quirk of his lips. "Hey, don't worry about it, all right? We'll figure this out, and we'll— we'll find Kairi."

What you didn't tell Riku was how unlikely you thought that scenario to be.

...

Once upon a time... you would have scoffed at any hero in a story wearing a hoodie, whilst strolling into school while feeling depressed.

Now, though... Now you couldn't imagine doing anything but drowning in your grief this way, as you thundered into the school building, just as lightning struck overhead and you knew... knew without a shadow of a doubt that Kairi was really gone.

And that hurt you and broke you down so much that you didn't know what to do about it. There were many reasons to miss Kairi, of course, and every area around you was some sort of trigger to your memory of her.

Here was the hall to the main office: where the redhead had once decked out in shades of scarlet for a contest during Spirit Week.

And there was Selphie: the first friend you'd ever been okay with meeting, after Riku had betrayed you; it had been through Kairi's friendship with the spiky haired girl that you'd even been able to do that much. And you dreaded what Selphie might say to you now, when she found out that Kairi was missing and that you'd been the last person to talk to her.

But deeming to think on those thoughts at a later time, you quickly shouldered through the double wooden doors that would take you up a flight of stairs, and to your first History class.

All ready, you missed the journey you'd taken with Kairi there last time, and you felt lonelier than ever.

That was—that had to be the hardest thing about all of this, you thought. That even though you missed Kairi immensely—missed how she would have been overjoyed that the bowling set in the room had once again faded away to reveal boring, garish colors and nothing more: your teacher's favorite—what you really missed about her... was what she'd been to you.

It wasn't fair or right to think about it like that, you knew, but... you missed going to class with her. You missed her constant presence, and her always bringing a walking stick to help you in the mornings... You- you just missed her so much...

And maybe... maybe that was why you didn't at first notice that a new student was being introduced to the class, until the blonde took up the seat right in front of you.

At once, looking up with a start, you noticed that the rain on the window beside you seemed to look red in color. It looked like blood, and Kairi's hair color all rolled up into one. And if that wasn't enough to make you feel nauseous, the fact that the girl—Naminé, you thought her name was—was the spitting image of Kairi would definitely have made you ill.

And even more unsettling than all of that, was the fact that the girl was looking at you with a very familiar smile.

"You're..." you muttered brokenly, as you reached out in front of yourself to take the girl's hand in your own—ignoring that you were in the middle of class and making a spectacle of yourself. "You're Kairi's cousin, aren't you?! You look—you look just like her, the way that Roxas kinda looks like me. Do you—do you know what's happened to her?! Can I talk to you, please?!"

That made the grin disappear off of the girl's face toot sweet, you found. And in that... you wished you had begun questioning her about less hurtful things. Especially if it would have awarded you answers about Kairi... and if it would have kept Naminé from looking like she was emulating Kairi in some weird, haunting way.

Only one person should have ever been able to look at you that way. And for that matter... only one person's hand should have felt like Kairi's in your own. So why— Why did Naminé feel just like her? Why?

"Teacher?" Naminé questioned, as she shot her hand up into the air in a very fast and vivid motion: you hadn't thought she had that type of attitude within her, but apparently you'd been wrong. "Can I— can I, and this person here, be excused, please? I think— I think we're both mourning the loss of my cousin, you see, so-"

Before Naminé could even finish her awkward stutter, you found you were all ready being shooed away more swiftly than you could have ever wished for.

So disappearing from the other room, before you could think on how the teachers also must have been alerted about Kairi's disappearance, you leaned outside the door and you waited. Naminé was right beside you, soon after.

She might have been putting her jacket on as she joined you, so that you couldn't see her at all for a moment—something you were very glad for, because you didn't want to look into another face of Kairi's—but it was definitely her.

Only when she had her coat on did she step forward the slightest bit, and scoff her boots on the linoleum beneath you both—bumping her feet against yours at the last moment.

"I know we've just met," Naminé said, as she turned to face you and put a hand on your chest—and how much more healing her touch was compared to Riku's, you marveled. "But... I think the best way this can be explained would be at my house. Could you meet me there? Foregoing the fact that I'm a stranger... for Kairi's sake, maybe?"

For Kairi's sake, you could do all that and more. Nodding your head, you let her grasp your hand and lead you away.

...

You really didn't know what you'd been expecting, when you'd allowed Naminé to sweep you away and out towards the Play Island: where you'd thought no one could possibly live.

But oddly enough... the little shack beneath the embankment, which lead to a tree house, was exactly where she lived.

And to say that questions were racing through your head then would have been an understatement. You weren't foolish enough to think that Kairi's disappearance and Naminé's sudden appearance were unconnected, for one thing.

But more than that... Who in their right mind let some strange, teenage girl live out in the open like this? Even someone who was scorned like you were still had parents to live with... So, did that mean that Naminé's isolation was something of her own choice?

Unless she was lying to you about living here, of course. That was the most logical and likely conclusion to all of this, but when you looked at the medium brown structure—that seemed to be made more out of twigs and poor architecture than anything else—you couldn't shake the feeling in your head that Naminé belonged here, and that the place truly was hers.

You also— you also couldn't shake the feeling that the girl you'd just met was a witch. There was no substance for that thought of yours at all, and it was almost a judgmental and cruel one, even, sense you knew witches hadn't existed in hundreds of years, but... Naminé just seemed and looked so ethereal, that you couldn't imagine her being anything else.

It was about this time that the blonde finally opened the oddly placed door before you, and moved to step inside. She turned around and winked at you for a moment, and if that didn't make alarm bells go off in your head, you didn't know what would—but you followed her into the mysterious, black place, anyway.

If following Naminé would lead you to Kairi—the one good thing and person you'd known in your hell of a life—you would happily die to save her... or, at the very least, to learn what had happened to her.

Pushing those dark thoughts aside, as you tried to get accustomed to your surroundings, you found yourself looking around and feeling in the dark for Naminé.

Something—something wasn't right, you thought. The area you were in felt much too large and closed in, compared to how it had seemed on the outside. You were about to say such a thing, too, when suddenly lights came on all around you, and you found yourself standing in what seemed to be a massive library.

Well... a library was putting it mildly, you thought, as you looked up to the ceiling, to see books stretching upward on shelves as far as the eye could see. Literally. You thought some of them must have been stored in the heavens somehow.

The rest of the area, though definitely brighter, seemed to carry some sort of shadow to it. Branching off of the massive columns that held the area together, you thought you could see massive, oak tables arcing behind you. Maybe... maybe that was the darkness you saw? Either that or some beds, maybe: Naminé surely needed somewhere to sleep, after all.

When... she wasn't brewing potions, you thought, as you took in the pipes to the right of you, that seemed to be carrying all matter of liquids, so that they could come together in a single beaker.

Idly, you wondered what would happen to you if you broke one of the pipes and disrupted the mixing. You almost wanted to try it out, just to see, but you stopped yourself.

Moving around a massive pile of books, and papers flying everywhere, you finally found Naminé sitting on a tea table before a massive picture window. She seemed to be drinking coffee, oddly enough, as she sat atop the wood, cross-legged: waiting for you to join her. To say that you didn't take the bait would have been a lie.

"Naminé, you're... you're a witch, aren't you?" You said as kindly and gently as you could, while in the back of your mind you worried that this girl had used her powers to steal your would-be-girlfriend's face, or something, and had... killed her, after the deed had been done.

"I mean," you started again, as your large hands flew in every which way, as they began spasming out of control. "I know— I know that's impossible! According to the textbooks, anyway, but here you are. That's— that's amazing! This _place_ is amazing, but I... I can't see what any of it has to do with Kairi…" you said at last. Almost dreading the answer, as soon as you'd voiced it.

The way that Naminé began holding onto her teacup so tightly that it bit into her skin gave you some hope, though. She looked clearly upset and distant...

Placing the cup down in front of her, and then folding her hands delicately in front of her chest, Naminé voiced in a very broken whisper, "It's because she got involved in things she never should have,"

Naminé explained mysteriously, as she seemed to purposefully avert her gaze from your own, "It has to do with the Cycle, you see... Kairi saw a hole in the system, and she meant to exploit it to make things better, but... but she was too careless. Partly my fault, for not foreseeing it and stopping her, but… they found her out. And now... in the best case scenario, she _will_ come back, but not as she was."

"I don't— I can't understand what you mean at all. I'm sorry, but do you— do you think you could explain a bit better?" you asked the enigma before you reluctantly—all the while feeling like you were the biggest fool to ever walk the face of the earth.

Suddenly, you found yourself wishing you hadn't been taking so much medication lately. Maybe... maybe your usual, feverish mind could have deduced what she meant, what with its far off guesses.

And also... that side of you wouldn't have taken "no" for an answer. And neither would you have stopped guessing until you'd somehow gotten it all right. You wouldn't have—you wouldn't have felt sheepish, like you did now, if you'd been your insane self...

The insane version of yourself that Riku had seen when you'd you tried to reason with him the night before, and-

"I don't really expect you to," Naminé responded curtly, as, with a snap of her fingers, she made the remaining coffee grains in her glass disappear in a fiery puff of smoke.

Groaning at that—perhaps she hated getting rid of any part of coffee? Even the parts that hadn't made?—Naminé looked up at you with wide, intelligent, pale blue eyes, and then:

"Have you had any suspicions about the Cycle yourself, Sora? I think... I think that maybe you have. Most people do at least once in their lifetimes, of course, but I sense you might be... a special case.

"Anyway, I guess there's no other way to come out and say this, but... the Cycle—at a certain time in one's life—takes away who they were, but replaces them with someone else. To that end, Kairi might very well appear again, but it won't be exactly the same Kairi that you know and love, do you understand?"

You most certainly did _not_ understand. And what you wanted to do more than anything was to scream to the high heavens and demand to know what sort of joke they were plying on you.

Could it have been... could it have been that Naminé wasn't right in the membrane, either? She didn't look like she was ill, you thought, but hey: you liked to think that you also looked normal; so maybe you couldn't tell just through someone's appearance whether they were sane or not?

If nothing else, Naminé seemed to believe her own words. You didn't know what that really counted for, however. But then again... if she wasn't being truthful, how _else_ could the magic you were seeing be explained? Gosh, your head hurt...

If nothing else, you both agreed that the Cycle was bad news, right? So...

"So let me get this straight," you said with a puckered up expression, that you would only later remember because it echoed the fact that Naminé was currently drinking lemon tea.

"You're saying when we go to the Cycle... we're sometimes replaced with doppelgangers and then left for dead? How does that work exactly? And why? Are these people like... other versions of us from another world, maybe? Or reincarnations of us? Or look-alikes... Or thieves who steal our faces, maybe? I don't- I don't understand any of this!"

The cool, calm that you'd been exhibiting throughout the last few days—and maybe your whole life, actually—snapped like tooth picks, as you slammed your hand down on the table below you, and caused some of your tea to spray onto Naminé's face.

At the moment, you couldn't have cared less. You were positively seething; how did you—how did you know that this all wasn't some kind of a conspiracy to keep you off the real trail?!

And if what Naminé was saying _was_ true... how did you know that she was who she said she was—Kairi's concerned cousin—and that she wasn't in on it herself?

"I don't..." Naminé started, sounding very empathetic for someone you had just about assaulted, you thought guiltily. "I don't know the full extents of it, exactly. I just know it's something to be avoided at all costs. I've been trying to consult my ancestors for any information they might have on all of this," the young girl explained, as she made a paper towel appear out of thin air, and began mopping herself up with it: something you were quick to try and assist on.

"But I'm afraid my bloodline isn't anything if not muddled. It's going to take some time and work on my part. And I don't know if I have that, since people have been trying to take _me_ to the Cycle lately. And I'm at a bigger risk here than I was before, since your Island's making all its citizens go through it right now, but since this is where Kairi disappeared... I have to be out and about and here to try and help her. I have to."

There was absolute despair in Naminé's voice, as she said the last. And it was then and only then that you realized what you should have long ago: that while you might have lost the love of your life, Naminé had also lost her cousin that she loved very much.

And though you couldn't recall Kairi ever talking about Naminé—or seeing her with the other girl at all (you got the sense that Naminé was a "stay in-doors" type, anyway) —you could easily imagine how the two of them would have gotten along well with each other.

Yes... Naminé was suffering greatly, wasn't she? Leaning over your side of the table more, so that you could see Naminé better, you tried your best to console the crying girl. And maybe... in doing that, you'd allowed Kairi—who looked so similar to Naminé—to not cry wherever she was, too.

"Naminé, is there anything you can do to help or get her back? Can you locate her, maybe? Or is there something that _I_ can do? Anything I can help you with to find her? I'm— I'm more than willing to help out, you know? Were it not for Kairi, I might not even be alive right now. She stepped in when I was being beaten up on the playground once, so... I more than owe her her life. Naminé?"

"The way you can help," the blonde said, as she reached out to clasp your hand in her own, and looked to all the world like she'd gone through far too many tragedies. "Is by wielding this blunt object I made, and fighting off the tainted rain."

And as if she'd been in a trance when telling you that, Naminé let out a surprised little gasp, as the words left her mouth. And after looking at you with wide, horrified eyes, she collapsed.

...

That night, you dreamed of one of the first memories you'd ever had with your best friend.

_It had been a rainy day that time—not rainy like it was now, but more natural somehow. And you remembered how you'd raced into town, intent on racing sticks or toy boats down the small streams that ran at the edges of the road._

_There was something to be said about playing in rainwater like this, that wasn't, technically, supposed to be played in. So whenever you got any sort of rain at all—enough to douse the land in a little bit of runoff, anyway, and not enough that it would send your mom calling your dad—you headed to the town square, and played with the other rebel kids who dreamed of sailing in clear waters one day._

_Riku was there, you noticed, as you hurried up the stairs that led to the red-brown, concrete star carved into the center of the ground._

_While everyone else was out looking for more... traditional ways to sail their "boats", you'd always loved to push small twigs through the wedges of the yellow star. Mainly because no one else did that—as it was hard to find sticks that small, so that they could make a substantial trek around the thing—but also because it made you feel like you owned the city, almost (as the star represented Destiny Islands' capitol)._

_It was no different for you now... Even if someone had, annoyingly, made the circular, disco ball looking sprinkler go off, so that the area was soaked with regular water, too._

_Still… didn't they know you wanted to cherish the natural clean water for change, and not the purified type from the sea?! If it started running over your starred area, you were going to have a very bad day, you knew, so it had better stay away... you thought miserably, and everyone else, too, for that matter._

_It was about in that moment that Kairi let herself be known. And while you usually would have been completely for your only friend's—the only person who really loved you's—attention, at the moment, you couldn't help feeling she was getting in the way._

_Kairi didn't like playing these sorts of games, so why she was now kneeling down in front of you was something you couldn't even begin to fathom._

_And why was it that the eight-year-old had chosen to stand right in front of the sprinkler, so as to get even wetter? You wondered, mystified. She was going to get sick! Or maybe even some sort of virus! And then all of the mommies would make sure none of you ever did anything like this again!_

_You scowled. Or... at least you would have, if Kairi hadn't pointed something very important out to you in that moment. "Sora... this stick of yours is chipped at the top. I think... And I think it's making it catch onto things, so that it can't follow the pathway of the star. Here," she said, ripping off a part of the bib—err, collar—she was wearing, so that she had a small piece of fabric in her hand._

_Tying the broken splinters together in a very deft way, for someone who no longer liked art, Kairi examined her work for a moment, before giving it back to you with a smile. "There you go. Try it out, Sora!"_

_And you did, with your own little smile lighting up your face, even. The branch positively soared! It didn't go in a straight path anymore, and it banged around all over the place—something that you would later learn was because it had become heavier on one side—but it flipped end on end, until it got to the other side of the star: faster than anything you'd ever seen._

_And in that moment, you realized you'd never loved anyone more than you did Kairi._

_Except for now: in the form of yourself who was currently watching all of this through a dream: desperate for your subconscious to make sense of Naminé's words and give you some sort of idea about finding Kairi._

_Soaring to your feet in your memory, you quickly clasped onto Kairi's hands, before dancing around with her and singing, "Kairi is the Best" to the tune of "Sitting in a Tree" (much to the amused stare of your peers)._

_You grinned. Rounding on Kairi then, you had to ask her where she'd come up with the idea of repairing your racer the way that she had._

_And to that, she told you with an impish grin—that wasn't unlike Naminé's own, you would later find—how she'd merely meant to doctor it up and give it resolve that way, and how anyone... should have been able to do the same._

You woke up with a gasp.

Breathing heavily, as the T-shirt you'd been wearing in your sleep now clung to you like a second skin, you ran a hand over your face—feeling so, so bone weary and panicky:

All ready, the remnants of the dream were starting to disappear from within your grasp— and you wondered.

There was- there was no way, was there? Kairi's prophetic sounding words… Had she- back then, even, all ready begun to suspect the Cycle? Had she been hinting at something to you, maybe?

If she'd truly stopped liking art back then, and you knew for sure she had, did that—did that mean she'd somehow foreseen everything that had been happening recently? If she was against buying pictures, for instance, because she knew it would cost her double at the event (if the old things you believed about the Cycle were even true anymore, that was), then-

Somehow, you know that all of this was connected. You just needed to figure out how. Kairi was running out of time.

And had she- had she called you? Did Kairi maybe have powers like Naminé did?

Closing your hand around the item that Naminé had given you before you'd left her, that was oddly similar to the stick Kairi had repaired for you in the past, as well as the one she'd give you at school, you decided that come tomorrow...

You'd go see Roxas for some answers. And you'd even crash council hall, where the Cycle was being held, and try to find her there.

**Author's Note: It's this point on that I really start loving this story, and I hope y'all will like it, too, and that things are starting to make more sense to you. If you have questions, though, feel free to let me know.**

**Also… I feel like Namin****é's my favorite character in this story. IDK why exactly, I just really love her here for some reason. I had SO much fun writing her in this fic, and getting to explore different sides of her, but more on that later.**

**I feel like I should talk about the cursing in this story. Umm… Obviously there is some. If this story was supposed to be canon, I wouldn't have it at all, because they don't do that in the games, but since this story's AU… I'm going with it. It won't happen TOO much. And if anything, it happens less and less as Sora starts becoming better, but if this bothers you… You might want to bow out on this story. Sorry. **

**And, yes. There will be some F words in this story. Not too many, I don't think, but since PG-13 movies can now use that word at least once without it being R, I think that I'm, at least for now, going to leave this story rated T. If anyone does want me to up to M, though, I will.**

**Btw, you should all go listen to "Glass Heart" by Leona Lewis when reading this story. No seriously. I listened to that song SO many times while writing this, that I seriously debated naming the story after it. XD You should especially look up eraquskey's video on YouTube to it, as it's an AMAZING KH tribute that I think you'd all enjoy:)**

**Thanks for reading, guys! I hope you're all enjoying this first full-length AU of mine that's seeing the light of day. See you next chapter!**

**-Shanna outie-**


	3. Chapter 3: Perchance to Dream

**Chapter Three: Perchance to Dream**

You weren't surprised to find Xion—when you first got on a boat and headed to Twilight Town again—worrying about Roxas' room, whilst Roxas himself was nowhere to be seen.

You supposed that one must work long hours when employed by the democracy, ironically enough, so to that end… it was only natural that Xion was tidying up his space for him, since he didn't have the time to.

Knocking on the wall much like your dad had in your room last, you had the pleasure of seeing the girl jump about fifteen feet into the air, as you startled her.

Her eyes blazing in that moment, Xion turned to face you lividly… only for that expression to melt off of her face completely when she saw that it was you.

"Oh, Sora…" she muttered much more good-naturedly than she had the last time you'd seen her. "You scared me, but it's only you. You should- you should know that you look very much like Roxas."

Yes, you did, actually. And it was for that reason alone that you thought that Xion was now probably tolerating you better than usual. She was nothing short of besotted with your cousin, after all.

Padding over to where your would-be-In-law had dropped a dust rag, against the swirling globe that Roxas had stationed next to his bed, you quickly picked it up—and then began acting as though you were dusting the white, expensive, marble dresser before you, though really you were feeling around for clues on Kairi—and turned to the girl with a wide smile decorating your face.

A mostly fake one, sure, but at least you were feeling a bit better lately, since you had been taking your medicine regularly, and now had a plan to help your favorite ginger out. That was something, at least.

"Hey, umm… Xion. This is a really weird question, but do you remember meeting my friend named 'Kairi' at all? Has Roxas maybe mentioned someone with that name, per chance? She's- she's gone missing, you see, and I know the first people to look for her would be the Council."

Xion's eyebrows seemed to shoot up and into her hairline at your words. She also looked slightly perturbed—maybe she thought that there was something going on between her and Roxas, you wondered—but she quickly smoothed that expression over, so that she was looking at you with nothing but sympathy, as she sat on Roxas' double, orange bed and seemed to contemplate.

"No, Sora-"she said at once. Moving her fingers this way and that, under the blanket of Roxas', so it looked as though she was playing the age-old game of "outer-under". You sighed.

"That name… it doesn't really mean anything to me. But I'd be happy to help you find her. Have you gone through any necessary channels? Have you put any missing posters up, maybe?"

In truth, you would have done exactly that, if you weren't worried about tipping any higher powers off on just what was happening. And now, though Xion's concern seemed legitimate and you greatly appreciated that, you found yourself regretting having come to see her at all.

Would she make some sort of huge scene now to help you find Kai? If so… you knew you had to stop her at all costs, but how was the real question.

If Xion—and by extension, Roxas—really was innocent, you didn't exactly want to tell her anything to get her mixed up in the mess you found yourself now in, but…

Maybe- maybe you could distract her somehow? With random facts, maybe, so that she'd forget the whole thing?

Deciding that it was worth a shot, you found yourself sitting down beside Xion, and letting out a breath you hadn't realized you'd been holding, when you told her: "'Nother weird question time. Xion… do you know a 'Naminé'? I mainly ask because I recently met a blonde girl with that name, and she… Well, she kind of reminded me of you."

That wasn't completely true, of course. Who she'd really reminded you of had been Kairi, but you'd be lying if you said there wasn't a similar vulnerability between Xion and Naminé both. As well as a certain weight on their shoulders that they both seemed to carry."

And as you had hoped, the new train of thought had seemed to get the dark-eyed girl's mind off of Kairi completely. You hadn't- you hadn't expected to elicit quite a response from her, though.

"Naminé?" Xion asked with a haunted sort of tone—clutching the seashell necklace she always seemed to wear around her throat, with a lost expression on her face, as she seemed to mouth a ton of words that would never make it past her lips.

Finally, she turned to you—as if she was remembering you were there for the first time—and in a particularly infuriated tone, she snapped, "No. I have no idea who that is! Why do you keep asking me about all these girls? What? Are you hinting that Roxas loves them or something?!"

Sighing, you resisted the urge to slap the clearly hysteric Xion out of whatever sort of shock she had found herself in.

But knowing that she'd probably just see it as you being furious that she'd forgotten the Kairi issue or something—and you couldn't have her thinking about Kairi again, because that had been your reason for sidetracking her in the first place—you calmly bid Xion adieu, and left Twilight Town with less information than you had hoped to have.

…

It was later that night, when you were on the boat ride home—trying desperately to figure what the connection between the Cycle, weather, Kairi, and Twilight Town and her photo was—that you would end up meeting the best friend of your life.

He was rather tall and slim: taller than most people you'd ever seen, in fact, and though your first thought was that maybe he was a basketball player, the idea seemed out of place with the relaxed, kind smile that seemed to always exist on his face.

No. You couldn't imagine this guy smacking a basketball out of someone's hands to save his life. He looked a bit too… kind for that.

Idly, you found yourself wondering what someone like that—who was decked out in more green and warm layers that you could have counted—would be going to an Island of all places for. But then again… maybe that chilled, serene sort of environment was just what this person needed.

Realizing that you were staring, and that there were far, far more important things to worry about, than what the only passenger on the vessel with you was planning to do, you quickly picked up a newspaper on the seat next to you and began leafing through it.

But… to your mortification, your obvious attempt to cover up your actions didn't go unnoticed by the stranger. As the man crossed one of his legs over the other—you noticed, then, that though the person's feet were quite large, they were actually rather slim.

And in that moment, you guessed the man before you must have had a medical condition—Sugar Diabetes, perhaps—that made him lose toes.

At once, your heart went out to him. Even moreso when he didn't seem to be saddened or bitter towards his fate in the least, but rather was cheerful as all get out. "If a… ya don' mind me sayin', sir, Why, you've got the most intense hair tha' I've ever seen! It's really quite nice. Ahyuck! Do many people on the Islands style thar' hair like that ther'? I'm afraid I haven' really gotten out much."

Despite the situation you found yourself in, despite how sick with fear you were for Kairi and what was happening with the Cycle—heck, even knowing that you shouldn't talk to strangers, and that this was all probably a terrible idea—you couldn't help but smile.

Your entire life… you'd been a black sheep for many reasons, and part of it had been for your hair at school. No one—save for your mother and father: the one thing you really had in common with them, and Riku, Kairi, and Roxas—had ever thought much of it, but had rather seen it as you being too lazy to tame your locks.

So it was more than a little amazing—and a bit unsettling—to get such open, honest, respect and curiosity about it. Putting your hands behind your head, though, and deciding to play the whole thing off, you shrugged. "Uhh… not really. It's a rare family trait, I think. I appreciate the compliment all the same, though. I'm Sora, by the way. And since we're going to be getting to our stop any minute now, is there anything specific you'd like to know about Island life?"

The main reason you were asking this, of course, was because you now wanted to deter anyone and everyone away from the Cycle and its evils. Especially kind people, who shouldn't even be going to it for Destiny Islands, if they were only just moving to the location, but…

Even though you wanted to riot against it and the world powers completely, you still needed to keep your hostility about them hidden, didn't you? To that end, you needed to hide your warning with other words. And so you would.

"Tha' would be super! Ahyuck!" the stranger exclaimed, as he pumped a fist into the air—looking rather silly for someone possibly in their forties, you thought, but you let it go.

Moving some of the strands of black hair that fell over the sides of his face—that made him look as though he had long, floppy ears, almost: another awesome hairstyle, you thought—the stranger got up from his side of the boat, and came down to sit beside you.

He stayed a ways a way, of course, and had even put his hands up in warning, so you knew that he didn't mean to harm you, and that you could refuse him if you wanted, but it was still somehow nice.

You… you liked the idea of making a new friend: it was something you could really use right about now.

"Do I need sunscreen, for one thin'? I have really derk skin, I know, so I'd thin' I wouldn't burn, but ya can never be too careful, I always say! Skin cancer is no joking matter. Nuh-huh."

Despite yourself, you couldn't help but laugh at your new companion's humor and all around seriousness _with_ that humor. You had no doubt that he thought the things coming out of his mouth were of utmost importance.

Not that you were knocking them, of course, because you had heard skin cancer could be a big deal, but… it had been a while since you'd met someone with this sort of personality. The stranger's accent was really rich, too!

Wherever Kairi was… and whatever had happened to her, you could only hope that she was with someone like this for the time being. She deserved her situation to be made as better as possible.

Frowning at that, and turning to look at the Play Island coming closer and closer to your side, you couldn't help the single tear that rolled down your face. And here you'd thought you'd gotten better at handling your constant fear for her. Apparently not.

"Sora?" your friend asked, as he cocked his head to the side and surveyed you with a saddened expression—so much more emotive than Xion could ever even hope to be, you thought bitterly. "What's wrong? You jus' tell ol' Goofy her' about it. I mean… I owe ya, fer helping to keep this trip from being a total bore for me. Ahyuck!"

Goofy… what a fitting name for someone who had been able to keep you out of the dumps for a moment, you thought warmly.

And maybe it was for that reason, that even though you knew this was probably a terrible idea and could even be putting Kairi on the line, you found yourself sitting up straight—giving Goofy your full attention, for just a second, as the ship finally began being tied up at the dock—and asked him:

"Have you- have you ever heard of the Cycle being a bad thing? My friend-she went missing because of it! I don't mean that they took her or anything like that!" you tried to cover up hastily, though your voice did that weird higher pitched thing that it always seemed to when you were lying. "I just… I think the stress of it all became too much for her, and she ran away somewhere."

The look in Goofy's eyes after you'd gotten done telling him that was absolutely tragic. And it was then right there that you somehow knew that you'd been right in telling the weird, goggle wearer of your turmoil.

And you also sensed… that you might have just made one of the most meaningful and helpful friendships that anyone could have ever accomplished.

At first apologizing for your loss, and then wishing that you'd find her soon, Goofy then set to scratching his head in thought, before he came to a conclusion that gave you your next idea to look for your girlfriend. "Hmm… Well, I'd be lying if I said I hadn' thought it was a bad thing in the past. Fer poor people, especially, who have ta pay fer the things they bough' real close to the Cycle for a second time during it. It's like taxes but worse, since yer not getting' anythin' out of it. That's abou' the worst thing I can imagin'!"

Goofy told you with wide, angry, and even somewhat tearful eyes. Calming himself instantly, though, he continued down a more positive train of thought, by saying, "One a the people I admire and cherish the friendship of mos' once used his inner position ta try and investigate the Cycle, and ta put a stop to it all. He didn't succeed, but I think he did make sum progress, in getting some people ta see the error of thei' ways. If ya want- I could get ya in contact with him. Maybe he'd know somethin' that can help ya out. If your girlfriend becomes aware of thin's getting a bit better, maybe she'll come back! Ahyuck!"

Resisting the urge to correct Goofy, and to tell him that Kairi technically wasn't your girlfriend, you found yourself promptly hugging your new friend—a hug he returned, by patting you on the back with a small, quick hand—you said with all the sincerity that you had in you: "Thank you so much, Goofy! You've been a great help. With this- I might just be able to save Kairi. Thank you. Thank you so much!"

Goofy might have said something back to you, but at that moment you were both being ushered out of the Voyager.

Blushing sheepishly, you couldn't believe you'd forgotten that you were supposed to be getting off, but you didn't care too much at the moment, either.

Exchanging information with Goofy, so that the two of you could find each other later if you wanted to, you quickly pulled out the strange, blunt sword that Naminé had given you out of your bag.

Doodling atop part of the water that had frozen over, as you began your journey to the Main Island, you noticed that a purple letter "K" had appeared on the top of the water.

…

The first thing you did in the morning, following your informative talk with Goofy, was turn on the computer at your desk and hop online to see if Kairi had posted anything on any of her Social Network sites or something.

Maybe… maybe if she had gotten away from her captors just long enough, she could have found some sort of device to post a message somewhere? You certainly hoped so, and for the next few hours—even missing the school bus, so that you'd be late for school once again—you fished around for any new activity or anything that stood out to you.

Unfortunately, you didn't find anything. And at that… the darkness at the edge of your vision—and the shakiness of your body: oh no. You were having a fit again—threatened to pull you under.

You wouldn't let it, though. Not when you had new hope and had planned to be productive today.

Taking some of your pills out of the drawer on your desk, you downed three of them in one gulp—the scratchiness of it in your throat serving to remind you that you really hadn't eaten or drunk anything in the last few hours—and you rocketed down the stairs.

To… see your mom doing warm up exercises in the kitchen. You grimaced. Not for how wrong some of her _calisthenics_ could look at times, or for seeing her work out for the first time or anything like that—actually, you were more than used to your mother keeping perfectly in shape—but because something had just occurred to you.

Why hadn't you- Why hadn't you thought of it before? Promising yourself you'd remedy it now, you quickly left the kitchen and headed into the blue matted living room to find your mother.

"Hey, Mom?" you asked, only when you'd stolen the TV remote and had paused the program, so that Tifa wouldn't hit you by accident as you approached her. "Can I… Can I talk to you about something important?"

She turned to look at you with a disapproving look on her face. As always, she knew that you were late for school, but since you could never get there on time no matter what you did, she'd given up trying to see you there. That didn't mean that she was pleased about it, though.

Pushing a sweaty lock out of her face as she regarded you curiously—before going into the kitchen to get a bottle of water from the fridge, something you were quick to do as well—she took one swig of her drink, before replying rather breathlessly, "Okay, shoot, Sora."

Sometimes… sometimes you forgot that your mom could be awesome at times. She wasn't nearly as bad as Cloud, and though she could have complaining to you about school right now… she must have seen the look on your face, and had opted not to.

And if she- And if she did end up helping you find Kairi, you promised yourself that you'd try to have the relationship with her that she probably deserved. You'd try, anyway.

"Mom… hypothetically speaking, say that Selphie got kidnapped. Do you think- do you think that she'd be able to fight off her captors, escape the vehicle, and be in another city, trying to get home or something?"

To your mom's credit, she didn't spit the water out in shock or anything similar to that. Rather, she caught her breath, and looked at you with one eye peaked up—hands on her hips—as she questioned: "Selphie, you say? That little scrapper who used to beat everyone up with jump-ropes? She could probably defend herself okay, I think; her build's not the greatest, but that girl would sure have determination on her side. I mean, it certainly takes determination to host as many events as she does. Why do you ask?" she ventured, as she looked at you suspiciously.

Okay… so maybe your attempts to keep the conversation away from Kairi hadn't worked as well as you had thought they would. And at this point, everyone knew that Kairi was missing.

In fact, you knew that you were one of the main suspects, since you'd always been around her and since you had no mental health to speak of. You even knew you probably would have been brought in for questioning long ago, if Destiny Islands' law enforcement wasn't such a joke… and if the Cycle wasn't going on. And if the government wasn't the ones behind its evil, you thought bitterly.

"N-no reason," you hastily tried to explain, as you went to fetch a granola bar and to head towards the door. You didn't like how false you sounded even to your own ears.

Your parents… they had to know what losing Kairi was doing to you. And maybe… maybe you should have been telling them what you were up to, they'd worry, of course, since they owned the rights to you, so to speak, but… maybe they could help.

If they didn't think you were involved or the culprit, of course, and you weren't sure that that wasn't the case.

Making your decision right then and there, you made up a half-truth, about how you were learning self-defense in P.E. class—and how Selphie had wiped the floor with everyone, to your surprise—and then you made your leave: thinking all the while that you might never come back.

...

In the end, you didn't end up going to school, after all. Your work was piling up, you knew, since you usually missed part of your first class, anyway, and you hadn't been there or working on anything since Kairi had gone missing, but…

Instead, you found yourself going back to where you'd seen the first letter of Kairi's name before. And though you pressed your sword to what was left of the ice as thoroughly as you could, spinning this way and that to see if there was a certain movement that had triggered it before, you found nothing. You tried not to let it discourage you.

Digging your phone out of your pocket, you thought about calling Goofy for help: Maybe—maybe it had been his presence before that had allowed that image to appear? But then you realized what it really might have been, and you couldn't help but snarl.

Heading back towards the shack where you'd first discussed with Naminé—in what felt like a dream now—you broke into the blonde girl's home, and instantly regretted what you found there.

"Naminé!" you bellowed, as you found the girl sprawled out on the ground, like she had been when you'd seen her last.

Running over to her at once, and shaking her shoulder (were you- were you supposed to turn a choking person over or not? Was that even what was happening to her?), you cried out, "Naminé, Naminé, hey! Wake up, okay?! I saw what you were trying to tell me before. It might be the key to helping Kairi, even! Namin-"

Yawning, and sitting up groggily, Naminé looked at you as if you'd lost your mind, as you cautiously helped the girl to her feet—you still hadn't forgotten your earlier irritations with her, though, and the idea that maybe she was just playing a game with you, and that she had conjured up the letter that you'd seen earlier—and patted her on her shoulders awkwardly.

Then, sounding much more dire to you than the last time you'd seen her, Naminé spoke: "I don't... I don't know how what you say can be, Sora. The Remnants haven't exactly come yet, and I doubt you stirred the water like how I told you to. You probably did it very unceremoniously, but if you really saw something—and I can see in your eyes that you believe you did-I suppose I'll believe you. You must be very lucky, Sora. Very lucky, indeed."

Yeah, right. Since when had "being "lucky accounted for losing the love of your life in a terrible way, and being insane even before that? You didn't say that, though. After all, you got the sense that Naminé might have suffered much more than you ever had.

What would it have been like, to be born of such inbreeding, so that she could have such strong magic still, you wondered.

Shaking your head to rid it of that thought, you looked to Naminé with about as much patience as you had within you, before stating: "Well, I'm not... I'm not going to stir the water like it's a witch's brew or anything like that. That would be embarrassing, and... probably wouldn't help me find Kairi at all. But anyway, what are these 'Remnant' things? And do you happen to know Goofy—or a Goofy's friend in the Council—at all?"

Naminé looked at you very peevishly for the first of your words, and you found yourself thinking that maybe she'd begin saying religious things to you—about what had happened to Moses, when he had refused to speak to the rock—in retribution, but she held her tongue.

Then, getting up and dancing to her small kitchen island, she came back to the room with a teacup in hand, and grinned at you more pleasantly when she said, "Hmm... the names don't exactly ring any bells. Though I remember hearing that there was something odd—goofy, as you say, perhaps—about one particular, famous politician. Do you think you might force information out of these people and find a way to get to Kairi?"

If Naminé was asking you such things, you knew it couldn't bode well. Wasn't she the one who was supposed to know what was going on, and had told you what to do during a trance? What sort of business did she have looking at you in as much the lost way that you had her?

Also... you didn't like how calmly Naminé drank tea, whilst discussing Kairi's fate like this. It was almost like she didn't care for the situation at all. But then again... she wasn't even drinking from the glass she was holding, was she? So maybe... maybe it just calmed her nerves or something?

"Do you..." you said, forgetting momentarily what you'd wanted to ask the witch a moment ago, and instead found yourself throwing caution to the wind, to starve off your own curiosity. "Do you happen to know a Xion at all? Or-"

You instantly trailed off, when you noted that the same expression that had appeared on Xion's face earlier, when you'd breached the same subject with her, seemed to be making itself known on Naminé's own. She, too, was clasping a hand over her voice and looking distant.

Finally, in a very broken sort of voice, she explained something that you'd feared all along. "I was- I'm sorry, Sora, but I was lying before when I said I didn't know in what manner people come back from the Cycle in. They come back as they once were, with their memories and most of their personas... But their souls are different. They feel differently about things. And Xion's soul is the one I used to have, and mine is what hers once was. And if you don't want the same thing to happen to Kairi... we must break into the Capital post-haste."

...

Your response to what Naminé had said was rather downplayed: you found yourself thinking miserably, as you got on a train with the blonde—you noticed she was dressed much more normally than usual, cheetah prints running this way and that on her jumpsuit—but maybe so much had happened to you lately, that your threshold for weirdness had deepened. How you hoped that wasn't the case...

And even worse than that: you began to worry that maybe you'd begun to grow numb to what had happened to Kairi and what could happen to her still. It was for that reason, though you'd never admit it to yourself, that you'd gone home for just a moment, after getting the news from Naminé, and had packed what few things you could for your journey.

As you'd thought when you left your house earlier that morning, you didn't plan on returning any time soon: not until you found Kairi, anyway. Until then, you'd stay at Naminé's or Goofy's and work nonstop to find the person most precious to you.

Even if... even if some of that was through sleep. You were almost certain now that the last dream you had had had been a premonition Kairi had given you in some way, and if that was your only chance of finding her again… you would take it.

Leaning your head back against the wall behind you—and feeling like you were going to get lice for all your efforts—you closed your eyes, and dreamed.

Naminé, the last thing you noticed in the back of your mind before you nodded off, also seemed to be yawning, as her closed eyes moved about in Restless Eye Movement. Maybe she was trying to find Kairi, too. Maybe…

…

You'd never given much thought to lucid dreaming during your sixteen years on this earth. Not even when... Not even when your mind was at its worst, or the times that you almost found that you wanted to be lost in the throws of something, but when you found yourself in some bizarre, square, dark blue space, you found that maybe it should have been one of your life ambitions.

It was an interesting sort of place you found yourself in. Not scary, per se, because even though there was some fog that seemed to prance across the bottom of the area, it wasn't the eerie, white/gray stuff that you'd come to expect on the rare occasions that the Island did get fog.

Rather, it just painted the area in even darker shades of navy, the way that a shoebox's lid might cast shadows on the bottom of it, you thought.

And with... with how small the room you found yourself in was, it almost felt as though maybe you _were_ in one such holder.

Not so much, though, when lightning seemed to strike behind your head. But even with how frightening that was, you couldn't shake the feeling that you were completely safe within this place.

Instead of a shock of fire that might have been about to blow your head off, you thought that maybe the light had been meant to represent an idea coming into your head. Maybe.

Turning around to face where the yellow light had existed just a moment ago, you instantly let out a surprised gasp when right in front of your eyes... was the girl that you'd been looking for for so long.

You didn't even remember crossing the distance between you, as you caught Kairi up in your arms—clutching her to you desperately—and cried.

Who knew? Since this was a dream, maybe you hadn't even run to her. Maybe... maybe you'd simply teleported to where she was through willpower alone?

Whatever the case may be, you were so, so happy that you hadn't tripped over your big feet once, and that you were able to get to Kairi so easily. And you told her just that, when the gift of speech seemed to return itself to you.

And when she giggled in response, you promised yourself that you'd never take that sound fore granted again. Never. Rather, you'd spend your entire life trying to get her to be constantly happy like that all the time. You owed her that much... after having lost her, after having lashed out at her for being something that she had no control over: rich.

Had you been an idiot then or what? Just because you'd been down on the world—just because you'd been jealous of her wealth—didn't mean that you should have taken it out on the single-handed best person you'd ever met.

And now... and now- now you knew you might never even get the chance to take it all back.

"Sora, Sora-" Kairi called a second time, pulling away from you, so that you could see the seriousness in her eyes.

Right. This was a dream, which meant you only had so much time with her. And for that reason, you needed to make sure that she told you everything that she needed to before the fantasy vanished.

"Sora," Kairi admonished, as she put her hands on her hips, and looked at you with one widened eye: looking you over for any sign that you might not have been really listening, most likely. "You're shaking like a leaf, hon. I'm fine. Really! No need to go to cardiac arrest in your own dream or anything like that, but... I am so glad to see you," she told you with a shy smile and blush—looking down at her high-heeled feet as she did so.

And in that instant, the moment that all of the breath you'd been holding left you in a single gasp, you found yourself realizing what you'd been loath to admit to yourself prior to this moment, in the off-chance it proved to be naught.

This was... this was really Kairi. Your subconscious would have replicated the part where she dismissed her own pain, sure—so as to keep you from suffering—but never would it have had Kairi looking sad and vulnerable (something she was clearly trying to hide) like she was now.

No, you saw her as tough, fierce, and independent. So if Kairi really was choking back tears at seeing you... then that meant that she really must have been suffering somewhere right now, right?

If just seeing you could do this to her, and make her so happy... God, what sort of terrible things must they have been doing to her wherever she was?

Choking back a sob, you looked at Kairi with mourning eyes—wishing to pull her into your arms again, so that you could keep her there and safe forever, but something stopped you in your tracks.

Kairi... she looked so different. Her hair was piled up into a neat little bun on her head, something she would have never done, you knew, as she was too much of a tomboy for that. And she was wearing a dark blue—as dark as the room around you—evening gown and shoes.

This- this wasn't Kairi like at all, you realized. And if that was the case, did that mean that-

"Yes," the redhead informed you—seeming to read your mind somehow. "I'm... the real me where I'm at right now, but I- I am starting to change all ready. And I'm- I'm communicating with you and keeping my spirit alive with sheer force of will, but it's no big deal," your girlfriend was quick to try and assure you, as she smiled at you falsely. "I know you'll find and save me, Sora. Or better yet: maybe I can escape myself and meet you halfway. That way you can get back to your family sooner, and-"

Right. Kairi was a stickler in believing that your mother and father loved you much more than they let on. No doubt she was nearly dying with grief right now, in realizing you'd willingly left them to come look for her.

Kairi... she was such a good person. And now, right at this very moment, someone was trying to take her soul—the essence of who she really was—from you and there was nothing you could do about it. Nothing!

"Kairi," you broke in, before she could change the subject to your parents instead of where she was and how you could save her. "I appreciate the vote of confidence, but you and I both know I don't deserve it. You've been gone for more than a week—you're losing yourself, even—and I'm no closer to finding you now than I was when you first vanished. I'm so sorry. I feel like there's nothing I can do," you admitted: a secret you'd never wanted to admit even to yourself, and here you were, admitting it to the last person you wanted to know the truth of your words. The truth that you were unable to find and save her.

"God, Kairi. I can't even tell you how sorry I am for what I said before. Not in the real world, anyway, if I can't even do that… what are my chances of being able to help you at all?!"

You felt sick. Sick to the very core. And you knew that if what was going on had been anything other than a dream, you would have keeled over or lost your lunch by now. And though ended up doing neither of those things, you did fall to your knees.

And Kairi... Kairi just stood there, looking at you in a torn sort of way. You knew, because you knew her so well, that what she really wanted to do was comfort you.

And the way that she did kneel over you, so that she might run soothing circles along your back, was so very much like a princess knighting one of her subjects… but also different somehow. It felt... good. Not that you deserved that, of course.

As you raised your head up to look into her tear-stained eyes, you could tell that Kairi wanted nothing more than to aid you, but she had no time to offer words or reassurance anymore. None at all.

"Sora," she finally said at last. And even then it sounded far away—and the fog you'd noticed as non-hurtful before was starting to rise and cover her like vines, in its attempt to spear her away from you.

"All of this is about one member of the Council's ploy for money. They think that if we are replaced with more docile and lesser versions of ourselves, we'll pay anything that they want in taxes. And... they think that since we'll be so much more simple this way, that war will also cease, but… they're taking away what makes us human. They have to be stopped at all costs. And the only way for you to do that... is to purify the Remnants.

"Good... goodbye, Sora," Kairi whispered, fractured looking, as she somehow seemed to morph into the area around her. "Don't worry about anything, okay? It's not your fault. I'll see you soon in one way or another, my little genius, and I-"

Kairi might have said she loved you, or something else different, but at that point it was too late for you to know.

She was gone.

And the area was all ready starting to fade into the train that you were on with Naminé.

No one... no one had ever called you a genius before. And though you certainly didn't feel like one, or someone who was owed that type of kindness, you did find relief in that one thing, at least.

"I... I love you, too, Kai. I love you, too."


	4. Chapter 4: You're Waiting on a Train

**Chapter Four: You're Waiting on a Train**

"What are... what are the remnants?" you asked Naminé after you'd woken up—well, after you'd woken up and downed some peanuts first, you silently amended. "You mentioned them before, but you never answered my question about them."

For some reason, you felt as though this wasn't the sort of question that Naminé would want to answer, as she looked into your eyes. So mindful of her rights and wish for privacy, you found yourself looking out the window again—only mildly surprised when you found that there were red streaks on the window, like there'd been when you'd first met the witch.

Was it blood, you found yourself wondering now. Before, you'd dismissed the idea as unlikely, but back then you'd known nothing at all.

Now... now that you knew about the Council's—or at least one Council member's—plan, the idea didn't seem as ludicrous to you. Wasn't bleeding out the souls of people into lesser versions of themselves exactly what was happening?

But... but how did that account for Naminé and Xion? Even though they currently bore each other's former soul, they didn't seem like they were any lesser than what they might have been before.

But then again... you didn't know what they'd been like before—or how or why they were someone else now, when they weren't supposed to be—either.

Unless... unless everyone's soul was eventually recycled like that for some reason? But if so, didn't that defeat the purpose of the official doing everything that he was to turn everyone into sheep like people? Unless... unless Naminé and Xion had been affected in a way differently than everyone else had. Gah! Your head hurt!

"Remnants," Naminé answered at last, "are the impure form of water that Kairi and I both have told you to face. They float into the air like sea weed might float upon an ocean, and when they become charged with electricity... they become sentient, and something you never want to face."

Suddenly the lightning you'd seen in your dream didn't seem so pleasant anymore. Was that what your mind—no: was that what Kairi—had been hinting at?

"How do you- how do you know all of this?" you questioned your new friend, as you turned to face her and also took some more of your medicine.

If you were going to be fighting mythological monsters, you had to be at the top of your game, you knew. And you did feel a lot better and saner than usual, but man was taking so much prescription starting to make your head pound!

"From what Kairi told me... it seems like this is the first time anything like this has ever happened. And it's being done by some power hungry monster in need of power, no less?" But even that didn't made sense to you, seeing as how magic was supposed to be a long lost art, let alone powerful magic like this. But then again... when had anything made sense to you?

And it was even worse now—that someone was trying to take Kairi's guiding light away from you. And a world without her wasn't a place you wanted to imagine.

And if it ever you did lose her… well, you couldn't imagine yourself sticking around to fight for the rest of the world for very long. Heck, you might not even stay in at all. What would- what would be the point? Surely meeting Kairi in the afterlife would be better than becoming part of the Cycle.

"I don't really know if that's right, per se," Naminé explained—turning around to face the other side of the train herself, as she pulled a sketchbook from her bag and began doodling some charts onto it: probably ways to go about using different sorts of magic, you assumed. "But it's not the first time that Remnants have existed. They existed long ago, back when most people were born with the power to weave spells, and so mentions of them are in the right history books, if you look for it.

"But... this is certainly the first time that someone has been able to enact their wrath again in centuries. I can't even figure how that sort of thing's possible. I don't think I ever could be able to reach that sort of power, and I'm a pureblood! But since the power of magic has dissipated more and more with each passing day, so has the power that I should have."

Well, that certainly was a conundrum, you found yourself agreeing with the younger girl as you nodded your head in understanding. Who in the world could have come across that power when even Nami was incapable of it, and how?

For an instant, your mind wandered to Xion. Could it... could it have been that she had the powers, since she bore Naminé's former soul? While that kind of thing didn't seem completely impossible, you somehow doubted that Xion could have been that powerful even with that. And if she did have powers... they weren't even really hers.

Who else was there, then? You were pretty certain now that Kairi had some sort of power. Normal people couldn't dream walk, after all, but... she of course wouldn't have kidnapped herself, so it definitely wasn't Kairi.

And besides, even though you were sure that she and Naminé had probably bonded over their powers and had practiced when they had hung out... you couldn't imagine her being anywhere near as powerful as Naminé was. She was only her cousin, after all, so that meant she couldn't have gotten what Naminé had in having an entire family of magicians in her line, and that meant...

Well, that meant that you were fresh out of ideas.

Maybe... maybe Goofy would have some sort of idea, you hoped. He had contact with at least one person in the Council, he'd said, and as Goofy seemed to you the type of person who could befriend anyone, you didn't think it farfetched that he could have found another witch or warlock. Maybe...

Whatever the case, though, you knew you'd find out soon enough, for that was exactly where you and Naminé were heading (to Naminé's minor annoyance, it seemed). Hopefully, you'd be there soon, and then… then maybe you could use Goofy and his friend as a distraction, while you broke into the Council meeting and found Kairi!

"Don't worry, Sora," Naminé said with the sort of kindness that you thought she must have usually kept buried, until she found out whether or not she could trust someone. "We'll get to the Council Building soon. I can't imagine that Kairi would be anywhere else, and when we get there, you can- you can save her, like the amazing person she always told me you were."

To say that you blinked sheepishly at those words would have been an understatement. Though you'd now accepted that Kairi and Naminé must have spent a lot of time together, without you knowing, you'd yet to wrap your head around the idea that they might have talked about you: embarrassing and awful things, no doubt, but also some good and flattering things as well, maybe.

"Thank you, Naminé," you told her politely—not entirely sure how you felt about getting on so well with Kairi's cousin, when Kairi herself was still in peril. And yet… you were grateful all the same.

"And this is probably a loaded question, Nami, but... you don't happen to read minds, do you? You and Kairi both, I mean. More than a few times, the two of you have seemed to know exactly what I'm thinking, so I'm kind of curious, I guess."

_Not that I think you'd be honest about it, even if it were true, so as not to lose an advantage_, you thought: but not before thinking that if the telepathy thing was, in fact, a thing, you might could alert Kairi to your presence as soon as you got to the compound where she was at. Wouldn't that have been great?!

Naminé tittered at your question. Bringing her knees up to rest against her chest—and wrapping her arms around them, before resting her chin there—the girl answered you in a rather flippant way, that instantly made you suspicious. "Gosh, no! If we had that sort of ability, we would have been more than a few steps away from the kidnappers all ready, I think! But having female intuition is a good thing, too."

You mouthed those two words back at her then—hearing how weird they felt on your own lips, and how unlikely they were to be the answer at all.

And while Naminé could have instantly rebuked you for that—in seemingly trying to flirt with her, while your true love, her cousin, was gone—instead she looked at you blankly, almost with suspicion in her eyes, as she noted something: "You seem better somehow, Sora. Less cynical and angry all the time, maybe. It's a nice change, but I wonder what could have brought it on."

The truth was... the truth was that you were always like this. It was just that when your mind was out of control... the good things seemed to scatter away, like the way earth split apart through tectonic plates.

You could barely grasp onto anything with your insanity, but rather felt like you were falling down some dark, deep hole—desperately trying to wrap the remainders of yourself atop you like a security blanket, before they disappeared completely, but you…

You had no idea how to explain that to Naminé, so you let the moment pass.

And reclining your head against the seat again, and closing your eyes, you hoped to dream of Kairi once more, just as the wheels of the train screeched loudly on the tracks, making Naminé jump.

...

You weren't sure why it was exactly, but when the train finally rolled to a halt—ending at a station that wasn't too far from Goofy's house, so you could just walk over—you found yourself calling Riku to inform him of what you were doing.

You didn't give him—or rather, his voicemail—all of the gory details, but rather you told him that you thought that Kairi was being held in the Council building, and that you were going there to free her, no matter what the cost.

It wasn't so much that you wanted his moral support or hero worship or anything like that—in fact, you were worried that he might alert your parents to what was happening and ruin the whole thing—but you needed to know that someone else who cared about Kairi... outside of the group who was going with you, might live to help free her if something went hairy on your end.

But you knew... you were more than willing to die if it would see Kairi to safety. And you knew, that no matter what transpired today, you would free her somehow and someway.

And it was with these types of thoughts that your mind was completely occupied as you followed Naminé—carrying the address of Goofy's that you'd given her—up the large, winding, cobblestone hill, east of the station, to get to where Goofy lived, without a thought at all about the area.

Boy did you have a thought when you got to his house, though! House, for one thing, was putting it much too mildly. What you saw before you was a mansion. A mansion that looked almost too big to be sitting on the small base that it was, without toppling over.

For one crazy moment, you wondered if Goofy had magic, too—and maybe that was how he was getting his home to stay there without falling off—but you quickly waved it away.

It was a very lovely home, you thought. A stark white three stories, held up by cobbled stone, and with a welcoming balcony jutting off of the third floor: like a DVD might look, spilling out of a horizontal shelf and away from its companions.

You also thought that the house was very... round looking. There were no sharp angles as far as the eye could see at all, and it was the kind of thing that you thought a baby would positively eat up. So maybe, in that way, it was like Goofy, but otherwise...

Then again, maybe you'd just been stupid to forget that Goofy had a contact in the Council, and was obviously well off for that reason.

"This place reminds me of a book I read once, where men were called to a beautiful, evil woman's mansion, and turned into glass and never returned. I think by doing this to them, she was able to maintain her beauty... but this is just nervous nonsense I'm spouting. After all, you said that 'Goofy' was a boy, right? And I like some of the brightness and architecture here. Just ignore me."

"Yeah... sure thing, Naminé." And it was about in the moment that you said that—after having given the blonde a certain, amused look—that the massive, rectangular and golden door swung open to emit Goofy's presence.

You found that you might have felt self-conscious about the whole thing in that moment, and maybe even worrying whether or not Goofy was the person you thought he was or not, if he hadn't scratched the back of his head sheepishly—as he looked at you with a pleasant smile on his face—as soon as he saw you.

Breathing a sigh of relief then, you decided that Goofy wasn't secretly a slave to the system, after all, and that the state of his home had nothing on who he was.

Naminé might have been having similar thoughts. You noticed that she was looking about herself in every which way, as if trying to figure out why there weren't any animals or pedestrians anywhere near the place, but perhaps being assured by Goofy's presence herself, she stopped her fretting.

"I was afraid... I was afraid that someone who lived at a place like this might turn their nose up at us, and not even let us in," Naminé explained shyly, as she tucked her arms behind her back and looked down at her shoes. "Thank you for not doing that, though, Mr. Goofy."

It was about at that moment that Goofy elbowed his way through his open door—something weird to you, seeing as how he was quite slim and the passageway was very wide, but maybe he was a klutz?—and put one hand atop your shoulder. "Gawrsh, is it good to see you, Sora! And could this girl here be- Why, is it the friend you've been lookin' for?! Ahyuck! If so, congratulations, buddy! Why don' ya come in to celebrate?!"

Later, you would wonder what sort of look you must have been wearing on your face to make Goofy's smile melt off his face as effectively as it did then. Such a thing shouldn't have been possible, you thought, since it was a beautiful day outside and Goofy was such a chipper person... but there you were, destroying someone's mood by your own, regardless.

You hated the idea of dragging Goofy into this. You really did, but maybe... Maybe there was nothing for it.

Tucking a frizzing piece of hair behind your ear (due to the humid heat), you told Goofy solemnly, "No. This is Kairi's cousin, actually, and she's serving to help me find her... before it's too late." Once again, it was nearly impossible to even get such painful words out, but you continued on for Kairi's sake anyway. "

I know it's too much to ask of you Goofy, and I really regret doing so, but do you think you could get us into the Council building? I think that Kairi's there. So… if you could maybe distract everyone while we try to get to her, I'd really appreciate it," you said with a quick bow—leaning over so far, in fact, that you felt a sharp pain in your stomach for the action.

Naminé seemed to be a bit uncomfortable too, you thought. When she wasn't holding a hand over her eyes to block out the rays of the sun, she seemed to be twitching her right hand, in a wish to use her magic if things went sour, maybe.

At your words, Goofy looked at you blankly. And you almost found yourself worrying that what the two of you had discussed on the boat—and your sudden friendship through it—was all a lie, and that maybe he hadn't understood your intent there at all.

If that was the case, you didn't know what you'd do. You didn't think he'd turn you in or anything like that, but still... if he refused to help, you knew that Naminé and yourself were going to have a very hard time of it.

Recovering quickly, though, Goofy said with as much gentleness one could have in saying what he did next, that, "Gawrsh, Sora, don't take this the wrong way: but I thought for ser you'd just bust in ther' and make a scene, until finally you had Kairi safely in yer arms agin. In fact, I thought ya already mighta done so, but if not... Well, I'd be might' happy to help ya!"

And just as soon as the words had left Goofy's mouth—and he quickly went back inside to grab a jacket, before closing the door behind him—you noticed that Naminé's hand had stopped shaking. Good, she must have trusted you and what you were doing, too, then. And what was more than that... _both_ of your new friends seemed to trust you impeccably.

Even if- even if they both undoubtedly noted that you might have had a homicidal side about you, when it came to setting Kairi free, if need be.

And maybe in the end, you did. Maybe in the end, it would come down to that sort of thing. And you knew as soon as you stopped the other's two journey back down the hill—where you would hopefully find a plane to take you to The Land of Departure—that you really probably should have just let it go.

Why argue about semantics when Kairi didn't have time? It was stupid to worry about such a dumb thing, but somehow that's exactly what you ended up doing.

Poking Goofy in the pectoral, so he'd stop for a moment and you could face him, you explained to his quiet questioning the best that you could, "I could- I could never just kill millions like that to get to Kairi like you hinted at, Goofy. I may hate the Council, but I know there are innocents there. You and your friend are proof of that.

"But more than that... the first friend I ever made—even before Kairi and my old friend Riku, back when I was a toddler—was my adult babysitter. He had a real temper and said some mean things sometimes, but... Meeting someone that had such a good heart as Donald did, before he- before he died, well… it inspired me to be a better person.

"So I could never easily kill someone from the Council. Not ever. Not after knowing that Donald came from there."

Leaving Goofy to ponder that, you quickly hurried after Naminé—praying to the high heavens that she'd been right, when she'd said she could use magic to teleport you to an airport, so that you could get to Kairi even faster now.

...

Naminé made good on her promise of getting the three of you to an airport. It wasn't as much as you'd hoped for, though. In the most traitorous parts of your heart, though you never would have admitted this to Naminé, you'd hoped that she could send you to the Council building itself, but… it wasn't in her power to do so, unfortunately. Something about water messing up her magic, she had said.

And though you really wanted to ask her if maybe that was something she could overcome with more than one person, maybe—like Xion, perhaps, she had seemed to want to help you find Kairi before you'd pissed her off by talking about Naminé before –you let the question die on your lips.

You sensed that Naminé carried a strong guilt and sadness about what had happened to Xion... even moreso than what had happened to herself, it seemed. Could it have been that she hated the idea that even with so much magic she couldn't set right the most important thing that had ever happened to her? It certainly seemed likely to you...

"So," you said, as you sat down on one of the plane seats beside Naminé and Goofy both—you steered clear of the window, though, because you weren't sure you could stomach seeing yourself go up off the ground so very high, thank you very much. "Naminé this is Goofy, Goofy, Naminé. Play nice now, you two."

You really didn't know why you'd felt the need to say that: you were sure that the two of them would be on their best behavior, and they'd all ready been somewhat introduced, but...

Conversation was still a nice thing, and something you were lacking at the moment. Especially since your nerves seemed to be getting the better of you.

You couldn't believe—you couldn't believe this was finally happening. That maybe in a short moment's time, you'd have Kairi back again. And when that happened, you knew you'd ask her to marry you without a moment's hesitation. You couldn't imagine wanting anything more in your life, even if it felt somehow wrong to you.

"No problem, Sora!" Goofy replied enthusiastically, pumping his fist into the air, and looking very much like your father did, when he tried to act and sound young (though Goofy's trial was much more tolerable). "With the way ya talk about Kairi, she must be great! And if miss Naminé here is he'; cousin, then she must also be swell!"

Surprisingly, Naminé didn't seem offended at that like you thought she might have; You knew well the fierceness that belied her calm exterior, so Goofy assuming that she was good, only because of her connection to Kairi, didn't seem look a smart thing to say to you—even if the reasoning for it was kind.

Naminé, surprising you, though, actually seemed to blush slightly at the flattery, and muttered a quick "thank you" to Goofy—before explaining how it had been a long time since someone had compared her to Kairi, and that even though she didn't think she deserved it—probably because of the whole Xion thing, you now thought—she was appreciative of it all the same.

And suddenly, just like that, you found yourself wondering about something you should have been worrying about all along. "Naminé, where are your parents? You must be worrying them, right? And all of this traveling... it must be getting expensive for you. I know that it is for me, and boat rides are even free—and you did teleport us to this airport, which helps things—but..."

"I appreciate the thought, Sora, I really do... but you needn't worry. I used to have parents, yes. But not anymore. I ran away and never looked back. And, no. They weren't awful to me or anything like that; quite the opposite, really, but... I couldn't have endured seeing them again after a certain thing happened. It's better this way for everyone involved, so please just drop it. If anyone, you should... you should be worrying about Mr. Goofy here. He might have just left an entire life behind to help you, after all."

And as Naminé's point rang loud and true in your ears, you found you'd never hated yourself more than you did in that moment. Somehow... somehow you always forgot—probably because you were still an idiot kid—that adults had people they needed to report to, too.

Or maybe... maybe you just didn't normally think of parents, because you hated yours so much, but...

You had taken Goofy away from something, hadn't you? And if not that, you could definitely be leading him to danger—or to betraying his friendship with the person in the Council—and you didn't want that at all.

You were about to say so, even, but Goofy was cutting you off before you could—explaining that he, too, had cut the ties to his family long ago, since he hadn't wanted them to see him suffer with his diabetes.

And it was in that moment that you realized... even with how weird, out of place, and in different situations you all were with each other... You really were the best ragtag team ever. All of you- All of you had left your families behind without a second thought, hadn't you? And now... now you were going to go save the best person you'd ever met when it came to family—even with how protective her parents were of her: Kairi.

And maybe, if you were lucky, she'd be kind enough to let Goofy into her circle, too, and maybe even you through marriage, and perhaps… even her parents, if she explained everything to them well enough, that was.

That was a nice hope and dream, you thought. It wasn't even as selfish as your usual thoughts about her were, actually.

But since you found yourself wanting to leave Xion, Roxas, and Riku out of the picture—even with all that you knew now—maybe you were still selfish, after all. It wouldn't have surprised you the slightest bit.

Pulling the blade Naminé had given you out of your bag—and making sure to hide it from all the passengers, who might see it as the weapon it was—you tried to figure out why it was that both girls in your life thought you special enough to defeat the Remnants and the entire Cycle system, but you found no answer. None at all.

**Author's Note: I am SO sorry that it's been so long since I updated last. Suffice to say, I've had some issues in my life to overcome lately, and have also been VERY sick (my entire family has been, actually), and there's your answer to why I haven't been posting.**

**And unfortunately, this will probably be the last chapter I post before the end of NaNo.**

…**I suck so much, I know, but once again, I PROMISE you that this story will be done—it's all written, after all; I just need to edit it—so bear with me, please.**

**And thanks a bunch for everyone who has stuck with me through the confusion, bad writing, and clichés so far. You're all awesome, and I can't thank you enough for what you do!**

**Hope to "see" you guys soon, and wish me luck on National Novel Writing Month, please!**

**-Shanna**


	5. Chapter 5: Soldiering On

**Chapter Five: Soldiering On**

The Land of Departure had to be one of the most beautiful places you'd ever seen.

Even though it wasn't that far from Destiny Islands—or rather, Twilight Town—at all, you'd never been to the lush, green place before: most likely because your parents hated the idea of taking their spectacle of a child anywhere with them.

But you quickly pushed thoughts of your family—and family, in general—out of your mind, as you walked up the beautiful, thin, blue/purple stairs that led you to a massive castle—held up by massive chains—that would then let you enter the rest of the city.

Maybe... maybe the truth was that your parents had thought you'd never want to leave if you came here, and that was the reason they'd never brought you to one of the world's natural wonders?

Of course, in the back of your mind, you knew this wasn't the case, but you lied to yourself that it was, anyway.

Stepping away from the tread path reluctantly, and then stepping over some of the unkempt blue/green grass, you found yourself almost worried that you'd fall right through or break it. After all, how could beautiful grass like this exist in the natural world?

It certainly wasn't fake, though, you found—as you stepped on the rich, springy stuff, that was making your shoes smell of the best dewy scent you could imagine.

Nope. It was all as right as rain. You grinned.

"Sora, could you focus, please?" Naminé asked, annoyed, all ready at the top of the many steps that would take her through the marble castle's entrance.

And if that wasn't enough to make you jump from where you were on the grass, right to the first of the stairs, you didn't know what was.

You hadn't counted on your shoes being damp, though, and you found yourself smacking your lip painfully on the concrete, as you ended up tripping for such a thing.

You thought you might have seen Goofy cringe for your sake, also at the top of the stairs, but you were seeing too many stars to be able to tell for sure.

You knew, then, as you sorely got to your feet and began your way up the narrowing story, that if Kairi were there, she would have put an arm around you, and would have moved to help you upwards.

Goofy, you thought, looked as though he wanted to help, but seemed to stay where he was, so that you all could get to Kairi faster, and Naminé...

Well, she looked a bit angry, but more than anything, you thought she looked tired. You couldn't really blame her, you supposed: she had been using a lot of magic for your sake lately.

Finally, reaching the top of the stairs where your friends were at—but instantly having to take a stop up there, as you'd banged up your knees pretty badly: something Naminé was quick to remedy with her powers—you took in more of your surroundings.

Somehow, the castle hadn't looked like it had as many stairs as it did, when you'd been looking at it from the bottom.

Feeling very much sick, then, as you took in the clouds that were a little too close for comfort, you pushed the two, tall (and oddly thin) double doors open, and thankfully entered what looked like a training room.

The entire area was made up of golds and tans, and only had some other colors here and there to spice things up. There were also three long lines heading up towards the three thrones at the front of the room, and heading off towards the few doors that opened up behind them.

Aaaaaand since this was a checkpoint for anyone to get into the Capital, there was of course there were going to be a ton of people here. You sighed—wondering maybe if it would be better if you just made a run for it; you didn't have time to wait in line like this.

But as Naminé finally appeared behind you—even though she and Goofy were both fast, they hadn't felt like they were about to be sick if they had stayed outside, and had therefore had no excuse to run into the building as fast as you had—she put a hand on your arm to stop your run.

Shaking her head "no" ever so slightly, she indicated with the point of her index finger what line it was that you were supposed to get into, and so you listened.

Goofy, who had came up to stand behind you instead of Naminé as you got in line, was quick to lean over your shoulder, and whisper in your ear: "So da we have a plan fer this rescue mission, or do we just plan to wing it?"

As far as you knew, the only plan you had was for Goofy to summon his friend at the Council building, and to make some kind of scene, but the rest of it... The rest of it you really would have to wing. There was no time like the present to get started, though, right?

For that reason, you were about to ask Goofy to go ahead and call for attention all ready... only to remember that even with how beautiful this building was, it was not the substitute Council building, temporarily standing in for the destroyed ones at Destiny Islands, but rather this place was a gateway to it.

Mickey—as Goofy had finally told you his friend's name was-wouldn't be here at all, then. And even if he was for some reason... there would have been no need to create a ruckus here. It would just slow things down.

So that meant your best bet really was to rely on Naminé, huh? Naminé: who was currently behind Goofy, looking over the fake documents she'd magicked with desperate eyes, as she tried to see if they were up to par with real travel papers.

You didn't envy her job at all, and suddenly you found yourself regretting ever doubting her. If she said this was the best way to get through the checkpoint, who were you to say no to that? She'd yet to be wrong so far, after all.

"Uhh..." you said to Goofy, only after realizing there'd been a long lull in the conversation. "Well, first we have to get through here, right? And more than that, we've got to make everyone believe Naminé and me are eighteen.

"After that, though... Well, we first need to find Destiny Islands' new base of operation here. Do you think it's close by at all? I guess... I guess what we really need is a map, huh?"

Goofy blinked at your query. And though at first you were confused about it, you soon realized that he meant it to be a nod: you'd remember that code for later. The less conspicuous you all could be, the better.

And Naminé, actually, was being anything _but_ conspicuous at the moment.

Apparently finally pleased with what she'd done with the papers, she first walked in front of Goofy and then you—all ready, you could hear people complaining at the back of the line, as they didn't realize she was with you and thought she was cutting in line—before placing the documents down on the desk in front of her: looking as flirtatious as you had ever seen her.

And hey, every little bit helped, you thought, if you were trying to make people think you were eighteen.

In fact, you wondered if you should have maybe been hitting on the girl, opposite of the boy Naminé was staring at, to help your case along. She was pretty cute, you thought… if you ripped off your Kairi-obsessed-goggles for just a moment.

Short, black hair that was similar to Xion's yet different, wide brown eyes, and a winning smile. Maybe—maybe you could win over this "Yuffie" person (as her nametag dictated that that was what she'd been christened at birth), to your side, but...

But then again, as she sort of looked like she chewed up guys and spit them out for breakfast, you rethought your strategy.

And it would be about that moment, when Naminé was miraculously getting stamps on all three papers, and was being pointed to which door to go through, that a certain someone would appear to ruin everything.

"Sora," came the loud, thundering voice of someone you still knew far too well, as they strode through the room entrance much more gratefully than you probably had. "What in the _heck_ do you think you are doing?"

Mentally cursing at him with every swear word you, you turned to Riku with a fake smile plastered on your face. The last thing you wanted to do was come off looking suspicious, when things were finally going your way (and your purposefully ignored the looks that Goofy and Naminé might have been wearing), so you said as kindly as you could, "What does it look like, friend? I'm trying to go to The Land of Departure. We'll talk later, okay? Right now, I gotta go."

If you had expected Riku to let it go after that, you would have been deeply disappointed.

Grabbing onto your arm tightly—something Goofy looked none too pleased about, bless your new friend—Riku walked closer to you, and hissed under his breath, "You're going to get yourself killed, moron, and for what? Knowing you, you've probably come up with a stupid half-baked scheme, and since I still remember how stupid your ideas always have been—even when we were growing up-I'm stepping in to stop you."

Would it really have been so bad if you punched Riku in the face now? Would it really? How you _longed_ to teach the bastard a lesson, and too demand how it was any of his business (this wasn't what you had called him for), or how he'd even gotten here so fast, but as you found you could do no such thing, you simply pulled your arm away from Riku with threatening eyes.

Finally, you were walking toward the door to freedom again, but had Riku given up yet? No. He was still following you.

"Sora!" he called out, much too loudly for a covert operation, you thought with a sneer. You whirled around and glared at him.

Thankfully, Naminé came to your rescue again. Looking at Riku with sad, vulnerable eyes, she placed one gentle hand on his own and beseeched him, "Please, sir. Don't— don't keep Sora away from me. You see... I'm terrified of going through the girl's gateway by myself.

"They say that only females can go through there, but I've all ready seen more than one male step through. What if—what if one tries to mug me, or something? For that very reason, Sora gratefully said he'd step through with me, but I'm— I'm afraid you're keeping him from helping me right now.

"Please excuse us: at least until we get to the other side, please?"

Pulling away from Naminé stood as if he'd been burned—and who knew? Maybe with her powers, she had hurt him—Riku looked at her with horrified eyes (a look you thought you had probably mirrored, in first having met Naminé).

Then, the blonde girl was pulling you away from your former friend, and towards the tunnel that would lead you to the other side: to Kairi.

It was... a bit embarrassing going through the dark tunnel where mostly only girls were. You were getting a lot of dirty looks as you traversed with Naminé, and you didn't even know where Goofy was in all of this.

But as you and Naminé finally broke free to the outside, and to the bright daylight, you found you no longer cared in the slightest.

For right in front of you—in shades of dark brown, and even some cherry wood—was the Destiny Islands Council building, rising up into the air like a towering oak tree might have.

And if you had thought you were ready to bust into the building and find Kairi before, you found yourself doubting the idea now, as many people were going into the building's doors with cake and all manner of things.

Great. There really were going to be innocent civilians in there, wasn't there? Well, that was just going to complicate everything, wasn't it?!

Still... the moment had finally come, and you weren't going to hesitate now.

And you couldn't... you couldn't bear the idea that that cake was currently being distributed to the disgusting people who had started all of this, whilst their captives most likely starved.

You would not let that cake pass a single Council member's lips. You would not!

Maybe when all of this was over, you'd remedy the image of cake in your mind, by proposing to Kairi or something. But more likely than not, you thought you'd destroy the foul stuff.

Yes, those Council members deserved nothing more than to have their precious treat destroyed. That, and so much more...

...

You found yourself sitting on a small, circular garden—resting over the cobblestone street, right off where the doors to the Gateway building lied—with Naminé, as the two of you waited for Goofy.

He was taking... quite a bit of time.

And as it was, you were about to go back inside the building to look for him-worrying that he was looking for you, as maybe he hadn't seen you get away from Riku with Naminé—but you thought that might have done more bad than good. You really didn't need to get into another scuffle with Riku right now, after all.

Maybe... maybe Goofy was just being held up, because there were more guys than girls there?

Yeah... that could have been it. It had to be... you couldn't bear to think of any sort of alternative.

"You seem..." Naminé started, pausing in where she was once again drawing with her sketchbook propped up against her legs. "You seem very nervous, Sora. Take a deep breath, or go walk around or something. Goofy will be here soon, and we can't have you falling apart when the time comes, can we?

"My cousin must have gone through a lot lately, and the last thing she needs to see is her knight of shining armor shaking, like he's a virgin about to have his first time."

You knew that Naminé was just trying to help—you knew it with every fiber of your being, even, and appreciated it, even—but her words had only served to make you feel worse.

You did not want to think about how much Kairi was suffering right now, thank you very much.

It was also... sort of unnerving, taking in the town before you, and seeing how everyone else was milling around being normal, when your entire life had been turned upside down.

They had... they had no idea about the horrors that were awaiting them, and for that reason... everyone was completely happy: buying and eating caramel apples with their loved ones, pushing their friends in line—as they argued about who would be the first to drink from the water fountain; birds chirping merrily, and even landed on some lucky folk's shoulder to let them pet them...

It was unnatural, you found yourself thinking. Disgusting, even. You couldn't imagine how anyone could ever live so unaware of things like these people were.

Even when... even when you'd been happy with Kairi, you'd never been this foolish and oblivious, had you?

These people... these people seemed so full of themselves, that you thought that if they'd been in your shoes... they would have forgotten Kairi in a moment, and would have asked Naminé out for a date: the thought didn't exactly make you feel good.

And suddenly, you found yourself completely hating The Land of Departure.

"Oh, there he is. Goofy. Over here!" Naminé called out with a small wave, before she returned to her sketchbook and began to stand up.

Idly, you had to wonder how Naminé was staying so well put together. But then again, if she really did condition her magic through her art, maybe it was therapeutic for her.

And in any case... she had been through a lot. Maybe this was just another day in the park for her...

Aaaaand that was another thought that you didn't value very much.

Or maybe... maybe she was so powerful, she thought the Council members couldn't stand a chance at all? That would have been nice.

Finally, while you were lost in your thoughts, Goofy came to your side and quickly explained how Riku, who kept asking him about Naminé of all things, had, annoyingly, held him up.

You nearly growled. And here you'd thought Riku couldn't ruin your day anymore thoroughly. God, you hated that loser.

But at the same time... you almost found yourself missing his company, because now that he was gone... you had to face everything you'd been waiting for and dreading all of this time.

"Right, then, shall we skedaddle? I see tha' tha' ther' Council building's right ahead of us. Pretty handy they have a sign telling us right on the door! Ahyuck!" Goofy supplied.

And though you'd thought the exact same thing, when you'd seen the place that looked like bark, it was only when Goofy spoke about it like that, that you realized just how suspicious that all really was.

But then again... you must have just been being paranoid, right? Not everyone could have been out to get you.

And it was perfectly normal that people would have to know where the building was—for the dreaded Cycle, as well as other things—but as much as you tried to tell yourself that, you couldn't completely believe it.

You started heading towards the building, anyway.

And before you even knew it, you were standing right in front of it—having all ready gone up the small, curved and yellow steps—and were going through another set of double doors.

These doors, though, were black and they had a lot of flyers taped to their windows.

You gagged. Yes, _let_ this demonic building host all kinds of cool things, like a Halloween festival, you thought dryly.

You weren't entirely sure what you'd expected when you'd envisioned the inside of this building for the past two days. Something dark and sinister, maybe. Or maybe something clinical and smelling of medical supplies, like a hospital, but...

What it really looked like to you inside was a bank. There were many tall cubicles lining all areas of the room, and behind each one was someone doing their job.

Great. How were you supposed to find Kairi in all of this? You doubted that she was just asleep at someone's feet here, or anything like that.

Maybe... maybe Naminé could sense her presence somewhere? You were just about to ask her that in whispers, but all ready the three of you were being asked why you had come: by a very no-nonsense, stern voice, that made you think of a judge or someone similar.

The guy behind the towering, gray desk even seemed to look like someone judicial, what with his crinkled face, gray beard, and squinty eyes. You almost gulped.

Fortunately, though, Goofy had the situation well in control, for it was that very moment that he asked for Mickey.

And... much easier than you'd thought it would happen in that moment, the door right behind the judge person opened up, and with an escort leading the way, the three of you began walking down a dimly lit hall, with dark blue carpet on the ground, and white stars stitched into it.

Your breath caught in your throat: this was exactly the color you'd seen in your dream with Kairi.

She was somewhere in one of the rooms leading off of this hall, wasn't she? The question was where, though.

The other question, of course, was how the hell you were supposed to ditch your escort, you pondered, as you subconsciously crossed your arms over your chest, as you continued walking and eying the rooms all around you.

Finally, stopping at the fifth, brown door to your right, the lady pushed the door open by simply twisting its black doorknob.

And there, standing right in front of you... was the shortest man you'd ever met in your life. Even shorter than the balding Donald had been.

Mickey... this must have been him, you thought. He was the only one in the room, for one thing, and Goofy's face had positively lit up, when he saw the short, wavy haired brunette... who seemed to have hair problems like you did, if the clumps of hair rising up on either side of his head were anything to go by.

He seemed like a good person. He had light, warm eyes, a kind smile, and even the sort of button nose you'd used to imagine Santa Claus with.

And the black cloak he was wearing—like all Council members were forced to—didn't seem to suit him at all.

But what really gave you confidence about the matter at hand, was that Mickey's floor—littered with a ton of copy paper packages, and a small laptop atop it—was sea-green. And not at all like the blue you'd seen in your dream, or the hall preceding this very room.

Good, that meant that Mickey wasn't the reason for Kairi's disappearance, and that she wasn't in his room; you didn't know what you would have done if that hadn't been true.

"Goofy?!" Mickey asked in a shocked tone, as his eyes seemed to practically bulge out of his head.

With a question that you missed (in a cute voice, that wasn't unlike Goofy's own nice drawl, in some ways, you noticed), Mickey seemed to be resisting the urge to come forward and hug his friend, as he eyed you and Naminé curiously.

And it was only then, you realized with a start, that Mickey must have come from Destiny Islands. He _was_ at the Destiny Islands' temporary Council building, after all.

And maybe... maybe that was even part of the reason that Goofy had moved to the Isl—

"Welp, it's really good to see you, pal! I've missed ya! But what do I owe the visit? I get that maybe this isn't a social call?" the small man, perhaps just a bit younger than Goofy, asked.

"No it isn't," Goofy assured his "pal" with a nod of his head.

Naminé looked at you with cautious eyes, then, and you couldn't figure out why, until-

"This young man her', my friend, Sora, thin's that the Council mighta kidnapped a friend of his, and maybe even some othe' people. Ya woldn' happen to know anything about it, would ya?"

Then, and only then, did you end up understanding why Naminé had exerted caution, but only when it was too late to do anything about it.

In all the times you'd imagined this scenario playing out in your head, you'd never thought for a moment that anyone would spill the beans like this, but here you were: with your situation ruined.

You were about to run and make a break for it, or try to cover it up—or hell, start yelling at Goofy, even; that seemed like a good and non-stressful thing to do—when Mickey ended up doing the last thing you would have ever expected from him.

Running a hand over his chin—seemingly in thought—and then raising his head to meet your eyes with kind, understanding ones, Mickey pulled out a piece of paper and began writing on it.

Surprisingly, he handed it to you, and you nearly fainted by what you saw. "Room probably bugged," it said. "We'll have to discuss this further on paper. But I've suspected foul play like this for a while, and have been trying to keep my eyes and ears peeled to stop it. I think if anyone knows anything—or might be involved-it's the girl down at the last door on this side of the hall. I can take you there if you wish, or—

You didn't read the rest of the paper. And you didn't even give Naminé and Goofy the chance to finish looking at it over your shoulder.

Instead, you dropped it with shaking hands, and began running towards the specified room, before you could stop yourself or rethink the idea.

Surprisingly the door was open, and you opened it with such force that you almost broke it off its hinges.

And while usually you would have been glad that it had been unlocked, as you didn't want to create a scene, you realized that there were much bigger things to worry about, when you got a good look at your surroundings, and screamed.

It wasn't the interior of the room that scared you. Sure, it was large and spacious—with high ceilings, and a room as long as the eye could see; perfect for keeping hostages, you thought—but that wasn't what was bothering you.

Rather, it was what was resting right beneath that ceiling.

In a large cluster, seeming to resemble a semi-circle, was the dark, water creatures that Naminé and Kairi both had warned you about. Thousands and thousands of them, all most likely ready to destroy, even without their master, if the light fixture—taking the place of lightning—they were leaning against was any indication.

How— how could they exist without their master, though?! Naminé's magic always disappeared when she wasn't around it anymore, to give it power—and she was a powerful pureblood, even!—so how?

It was about this time that you would have died, as the light fixture right above you seemed to erupt into a million, tiny jagged pieces—each one flaming like the burning bush must have, as they began hurtling towards you.

Yes, you knew that in other circumstances, you would have died here, as you were too in shock to even move or mutter a noise of protest.

But somehow, and for whatever reason, Riku of all people—you could see it was him, as he moved you away, and his silver hair blew this way and that—had opted to save you.

He hissed into your ear all the while, that he'd _told_ you you should have come up with a better plan, as apparently he'd had inside information on this. And if you'd just _talked _to him-

Normally, you might have been very happy about having narrowly evaded death, but not now.

Not now when Goofy, Naminé, and Mickey were finally catching up to you, to become food for the Remnants, that had now come alive and were flying towards them.

Damnit! Why hadn't Naminé magicked your weapon, so that you could call it to you whenever you needed it, and not have to rely on running to her to retrieve it?!

And also… you were terrified to know where Kairi was in all of this.

Just as Naminé looked at the area around her with wide eyes, you maneuvered to hold your blunt, L-shaped blade in the best way that you could: waiting for the first strike.

And you realized that for all that she'd been preparing you about the idea of Remnants, she'd thought the whole thing preposterous, too. And now…

Now she seemed to be panicking, and didn't know what to do.

And you didn't even have time to worry about that right now.

Instead, you had to get ready to defend everyone and charge for Kairi, wherever she was, at a moment's notice.

And Riku, seeming to be on the same page with you for the first time in a number of years, pointed to a door on the right of the room—where the area seemed to be more blue than white.

Kairi probably was over there, wasn't she? If your dream was anything to go by, anyway, and knowing what you did about Kairi's powers, you knew that it was.

"Riku," you began to mutter: hating instantly what you were starting to plan right as it was happening, but... what else could you do?

"I need you to go and find Kairi for me. I'm the only one who can fight these things off, so-"

"Hey. Who goes there? This room is closed off as of now, please gather your things and leave."

Shocked, despite yourself, you looked up and saw that there was another girl in the center of the room...

How was it- how was it that you hadn't noticed her before? Granted, you'd been focused on other things, and the white, small desk in the room had blended in well with the rest of it, but still.

What was even weirder to you, however, was that the girl didn't even seem to notice the creatures resting right above her, as she came over to regard your friends and you with a stern expression.

Maybe... maybe she was just dense, or had no knowledge of magical things?

No. That wasn't it at all, was it? You realized, as you rolled on the floor to dodge some of the Remnants that had meant to glide up your right arm.

Changing your blade into your left hand, you tried to bat them the creatures, that were clawing at your neck like bats, away.

Fortunately, you succeeded in getting some of them and their sharp wings away, but you hadn't destroyed them at all. Rather, they'd just moved to join the others again.

And worse than all of that, was that you'd now exhausted yourself in front of the woman who was currently trying to throw you out. The woman who was…

Who... who was Riku's sister.

And here you'd thought nothing could faze you anymore.

Aqua... You'd only ever met her a few times when you were younger, and her blue hair had been unmistakably longer back then, but this was most certainly here.

She had the same bluish eyes as Riku did; as well as the same pointed features, and the same sort of jagged locks at the end of their hair.

Her eyes, though... her eyes were so much more kinder than Riku's could have ever hoped to be.

But... something seemed to be obscuring them. Or rather... they seemed to be obscuring Aqua's view of the world around her. The Remnants were practically on her now, and she was none the wiser at all.

Finally, Aqua's eyes locked on Riku: her brother that must have been coming here to save her all along. And as her eyes dotted with confusion, you decided that that was all the chance you needed.

"Naminé!" you said in a more urgent voice than you'd ever thought you were capable of, as you turned to the girl who was still fretting. "Can you— can you go and look for Kairi? You're the only one—besides Riku and me, anyway—who knows what she looks like. I have to fight off all these things, and Riku needs to distract his sister, and-

"What?" you trailed off, as you turned towards Goofy, who had turned you around so you could look more thoroughly at Naminé. Oh, god. She really was panicking, wasn't she?

How had you— how had you not noticed before? She looked terrified, and in that, far more younger than you'd ever seen her.

She sat cross-legged on the floor, with her hands covering her ears, and her eyes wide and tearful. She also kept clenching and unclenching a ball of flames in her hand, but at this rate, it looked like she was marring herself much more than she was the enemy.

"That's what I've been trying to explain to you, Sora," said Riku, as he quickly darted to where his sister was, and touched the pressure point on the back of her neck to knock her out.

"Aqua... Aqua's been brainwashed or something, and is now a pawn of the Council. I only found out recently, or I would have been more forthcoming in helping you with Kairi. But... there's something wrong with her. She seems to have power coming off of her in waves, like Naminé does, but not in the same way."

No it wasn't, and for many reasons, you found. Not only was it supposed to be impossible for people to have powers anymore, but if Aqua hadn't been born with them... there was no way she should have gotten them now.

Unless- unless her soul had been messed with, like Xion's had been.

"I sense—" Riku continued on, just as Mickey hurried off in the direction you'd been thinking about going just a moment ago: your eyes narrowed in suspicion.

"Well, I don't know how I'm sure of it exactly; none of this makes sense at all, but Aqua's the one who'd been holding those things up in the air, and keeping them off of us. But now that she's unconscious, though-"

As luck would have it, Riku didn't have the chance to finish his sentence. Instead, just as he'd begun to speak, the Remnants came sweeping down: making a B line for everyone's heads.

You were swinging at the assailants blindly, then: only knowledgeable of the fact that if you stopped trying to face them, something terrible was going to happen.

In fact, it was all that _Riku_ could do, it seemed, to hover over his broken sister on the ground, and try and shield her from the constant current of darkness that passed over them.

There seemed to be spaces of red and yellow between some of them, though, that hinted that some of them were staying away from Aqua, whereas they were a swarm above everyone else.

You didn't dwell on it, though: if Aqua was their master, maybe they were going easier on her or something.

In any case, you had other things to worry about... Like how your T-shirt was being torn to shreds, as the enemy spun around you in a constant back and forth motion, so that they could saw at your clothes, and leave nothing but ugly, long/red gashes in their wake.

Torn between screaming and crying (in the end, you did neither and just laughed out hysterically), you tried to jump into the air—off of the desk that Aqua had been using, no less—so that you could maybe get at all of them in a spinning motion, but in the end it was no good.

You hadn't been counting on them swooping in and grabbing Naminé out of Goofy's arms. Hell, you weren't counting on them being corporeal at all!

With an enraged growl, you found yourself running across the desk—faster than you had thought you could move, even—and sending papers scattering everywhere.

Your first thought was to get Naminé away from the Remnants: no matter the cost, but then they did something far too clever: they went through the passageway that Mickey had just gone through, and towards him and Kairi both.

Torn, you stood there: trying to decide if you should save Naminé or Mickey—and most importantly, the girl who meant more to you than anything: Kairi.

Naminé all ready looked pretty badly hurt, you thought. She'd been ashen and in a cold sweat before all of this, and the Remnants seemed to be trying to cut at her now, like they had you.

And, of course, it was that moment that Naminé woke up—her screams tearing through the night, the way that sand paper screeched when you moved it against the grain, and you made your choice.

Biting into your lip so thoroughly that blood ran down your chin, and clenching your hands together so tightly that you knew they must have been marred by loud, red, angry marks, you remembered the dream that you'd had with Kairi, and you broke your blade off into a smaller version of itself: small like the stick had been when you'd been racing it against the star.

And jumping high into the air, and where the majority of the Remnants existed, you expected to die right then and there, in a flash of glory.

You weren't even sure this would do anything, as you soared through them like a bird in the clouds, and spun your instrument like Naminé had told you to: trying desperately to purify the water.

But to your utter shock and astonishment, just as the Remnants had begun tearing at your throat with all they could—and yes, this time you did sob—there was a large explosion of light, and before you knew it, most of the Remnants were disappearing and you were hurtling down towards the ground.

Consciousness was starting to disappear from you, but somewhere along the way, you realized that you'd landed on Goofy's shield—a shield that was only slightly stained with Remnant ichor.

And unfortunately for you, just when you thought you'd take a quick rest—though you knew distantly, that you'd lost a lot of blood, and that if you closed your eyes, you might never open them again—or maybe go check on Naminé, you noticed that there were still some Remnants alive and well, and they were all heading for Kairi.

You distantly heard someone—maybe everyone—calling after you, as you jumped down from the shield, and raced out into the hall—nearly passing out then and there.

And maybe... maybe it was you were just delirious after having lost so much blood, but why did it seem as though the hall was tilted on its side, and covered in an eerie, green light?

That couldn't be right, could it? Your dream... Kairi was meant to be in a blue area. Everything you knew and had seen had hinted at that fact, so you were most likely wasting your time going through this green area, but something kept you striding forward, anyway.

You kept going straight, until finally, the hall stopped into one, small, square room.

It was a completely odd place, you thought. You'd never seen a room come off of a hall like this. There was no door to it or anything—and neither were there any other rooms surrounding it—it just was.

It looked more like a child's play house than anything else, and it was in this room that you finally found Kairi.

And then, you were crawling to her before you could even remember falling to the floor. Whether it was from the blood loss, shock, or what, you had no idea, but you found you couldn't have stood even if you had tried.

You were also distantly aware, as you clung to her legs like a toddler might have, that you were probably hurting her with the blade you were still holding.

No doubt the jagged edges of it were biting into her waist almost painfully, but Kairi made no sound of protest.

Instead, she patted your head clinically, and whispered sweet nothing into your ears, as you came undone: apologizing and apologizing and apologizing.

You weren't even aware that Mickey was there—looking as though he'd fought a battle himself—until he came up to you, and tipped your head back, so that he could drop some sort of healing medication down your throat. But even that wasn't as bad as what made you really notice his presence, and then never forget it again.

Looking at you with the most guilty and sad looks you'd ever seen on anyone, Mickey whispered brokenly, as he scratched behind his ears. "Sora... I know you've been through a lot, and that you must be sufferin' a lot right now, but... I have to ask ya now. The sooner I can, the more likely we can fix all this, but...

"Do ya have any idea who they woulda given Kairi's soul to, and who's they woulda given her instead?"

It was in that moment that you noticed that Kairi was wearing the blue from your nightmare, and that she did feel completely different somehow.

You'd been... you'd been too late.

Kairi's soul had gone to someone else, and the girl before you now might as well have been a complete stranger.

Kairi... Kairi was gone, and you had no one to blame but yourself, for dawdling so much.

You supposed you might have ended your life there, if not for the death grip that "Kairi" had on you, and if she hadn't taken your blade.

And when that happened, she, too, sobbed.

But you... you found you had no more tears to cry for the situation, her, yourself, or anything else.

Not now. Not ever.

**Author's Note: And, with that, my dear children, we conclude Part 1 of this story. Finally.**

**Aaaaaaand I hate to say, but I'm probably going to leave you all on this cliffhanger for a while. Rest assured that I WILL end this story eventually, but to be honest… **

**I'm sort of surprised I posted anything at all right now. You see, I just found out that my dad has stage four colon and liver cancer at the end of October, and to say that things have been… rough for me and my family right now would be a massive under statement. I've mostly just been spending time with my dad, and trying to figure out how we're going to combat this thing, you know?**

**And if any of you could find it in you to pray for my dad, I'd greatly appreciate it. Thanks:)**

**Also, I don't know if anyone noticed, but I realized that I don't like how I was formatting my stories before this, so I tried to change it up a bit here. And hopefully for the better. And hopefully it's made things a bit clearer for you all? Be sure to tell me what you think about it in a review…**

…**I feel like there are so many things I've been meaning to point out to you guys about this story, but I either keep forgetting to, or don't have the time to. Timing really has been working against this story from the beginning. Sorry.**

**Oh, and Princess-Xion, I wrote a story for you (since you've been so good and kind to me about everything), and will post it soon. I actually meant to post it today, but somehow ended up doing this instead. Oops.**

**Anyway… review, please. And thanks to everyone who's made it this far. Hope you're enjoying the story…**

**Even if I do suck for leaving you all at this part.**

**But yay for Kairi finally being back, and the SoKai part of this story FINALLY getting a chance to start:D **

**I really wish I hadn't have had to have Kairi gone for so long, but it was necessary for the plot. **

**But don't worry. Hopefully I'll be more than making it up to you SoKai lovelies starting now:)**

**Oh! And if anyone's wondering, I imagine the Remnants being like the demons you see at the end of The Mortal Instruments movie. Actually, their base form is kind of like those black tendrils you see at the start of Cloud's fight against Sephiroth in Advent Children, but they can shape shift into things LIKE the demons, and bats and stuff. They actually remind me a bit of the Shades from the game, NIER, actually…**

**Also, I find it absolutely hilarious, that I'm posting this chapter, about an expanded Land of Departure, when a KHIII trailer JUST revealed Cable Town(?), that may or may not be a part of the LoD we haven't seen before. OMG. WHAT are the chances of that?! LOL. I wrote this back in SEPTEMBER, before we had any idea about any of this! I must be on the same wavelength as Nomura again or something. Yay to that! Nomura is my life hero:D**

**-Shanna**


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